Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Boosts Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 73.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,000 shares during the period. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $7,161,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,435,012,000 after purchasing an additional 392,270 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,051,300,000 after buying an additional 19,423 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $526,676,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,270,745 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $350,001,000 after acquiring an additional 39,544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,226,000 after acquiring an additional 430,719 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $284.99 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $306.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.46, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $292.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $282.37.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.45 dividend. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

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.