Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP Makes New Investment in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,693 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $399,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $374,530,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 90.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,141,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $272,663,000 after purchasing an additional 542,432 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 45.8% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,342,721 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $320,722,000 after purchasing an additional 422,002 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 178.5% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 319,341 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $76,278,000 after purchasing an additional 204,657 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,407,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,919,008,000 after purchasing an additional 170,620 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded up $3.64 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $281.14. The company had a trading volume of 672,336 shares, compared to its average volume of 847,093. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $262.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $245.38. The stock has a market cap of $40.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.45, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $215.32 and a 12-month high of $281.58.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 268.19% and a net margin of 28.45%. The business had revenue of $704.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $699.07 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.29 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, June 15th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 29.10%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on VRSK. UBS Group boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $257.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total value of $52,462.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,356,444.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total transaction of $52,462.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,356,444.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total value of $88,743.72. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,033,483.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,237 shares of company stock valued at $572,739. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Profile

Verisk Analytics, Inc provides data analytics and technology solutions to the insurance markets in the United States and internationally. It offers policy language, prospective loss costs, policy writing and rating rules, and various underwriting solutions for risk selection and segmentation, pricing, and workflow optimization; property- and auto- specific rating and underwriting information solutions that allows clients to understand, quantify, underwrite, mitigate, and avoid potential loss for risks; catastrophe modeling solutions, which enables companies to identify, quantify, and plan for the financial consequences of catastrophes for use by insurers, reinsurers, intermediaries, financial institutions, and governments.