Hsbc Holdings PLC Reduces Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Hsbc Holdings PLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 14.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 471,964 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 80,921 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned 0.33% of Verisk Analytics worth $127,377,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at about $34,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total value of $55,476.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at $4,551,251.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total value of $55,476.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at $4,551,251.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,033,483.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $264.76 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $271.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $254.55. The company has a market cap of $37.71 billion, a PE ratio of 49.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $215.32 and a 12-month high of $287.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 252.11% and a net margin of 32.03%. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.51 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.10%.

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.