Profund Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Profund Advisors LLC decreased its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,609 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 264 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,399,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,407,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,919,008,000 after buying an additional 170,620 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,502,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $405,030,000 after buying an additional 78,008 shares during the period. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 12,231 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,103,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $297,491,000 after buying an additional 85,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 24.9% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.23.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $264.85 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.79 billion, a PE ratio of 49.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.86. 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 $255.05. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $215.32 and a 52-week high of $287.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 252.11% and a net margin of 32.03%. The firm had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.51 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business 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 is Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 29.10%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,551,251.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,551,251.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 value of $88,743.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 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.