Taikang Asset Management Hong Kong Co Ltd Has $5.17 Million Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Taikang Asset Management Hong Kong Co Ltd lowered its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 46.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,763 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 16,471 shares during the quarter. Taikang Asset Management Hong Kong Co Ltd’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $5,168,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Haverford Trust Co increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 903 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $249,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Napatree Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $209,000. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 108,103 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,775,000 after purchasing an additional 15,233 shares during the period. Guardian Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,676,000. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,422,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on VRSK shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.1 %

VRSK stock opened at $285.40 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $289.48 and its 200 day moving average is $280.89. The stock has a market cap of $40.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.52, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $306.10.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

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

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.