Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Has $70.48 Million Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lessened its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 261,486 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 26,222 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned about 0.18% of Verisk Analytics worth $70,484,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,407,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,919,008,000 after purchasing an additional 170,620 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.5% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,502,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $405,030,000 after buying an additional 78,008 shares during the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 1,137,069 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $268,041,000 after buying an additional 12,231 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,103,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $297,491,000 after acquiring an additional 85,202 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 690,022 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $164,819,000 after acquiring an additional 137,706 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on VRSK. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.23.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.22, for a total transaction of $88,743.72. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were 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 owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,551,251.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $264.85 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $37.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.41, 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. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $270.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $254.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.51 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 29.10%.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.