Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH Has $195,000 Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH cut its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 80.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 709 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,955 shares during the quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $195,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,940,865.96. This represents a 7.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187 in the last quarter. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on VRSK shares. Bank of America started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $309.57 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $43.30 billion, a PE ratio of 48.29, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $245.01 and a 12 month high of $312.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $293.14 and a 200-day moving average of $288.24.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 26.35%.

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.