Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Buys 24,306 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 21.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 137,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,306 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $37,842,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $526,676,000. Amundi boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,226,000 after acquiring an additional 430,719 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $108,646,000 after acquiring an additional 393,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,435,012,000 after acquiring an additional 392,270 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,837 shares of company stock worth $1,121,618. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK stock opened at $293.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $306.68. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $292.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $283.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. Research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.40.

About Verisk Analytics

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.