Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Boosts Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 21.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 96,137 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,925 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.07% of Verisk Analytics worth $25,914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 225.5% in the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 205,110 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $48,993,000 after buying an additional 142,088 shares during the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 8,231 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,966,000 after purchasing an additional 3,219 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $698,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $3,919,008,000 after purchasing an additional 170,620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 362,915 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $85,550,000 after purchasing an additional 4,147 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction 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 approximately $4,551,251.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Verisk Analytics news, 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,551,251.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $268.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.23.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK opened at $264.85 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $37.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.41, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $270.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $255.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $215.32 and a 52-week high of $287.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly 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 posted $1.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate 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 given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.