Swedbank AB Makes New $28.74 Million Investment in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 121,915 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $28,739,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Westpac Banking Corp raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 94.8% in the fourth quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 1,243 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $297,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 346,646 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $82,800,000 after purchasing an additional 34,077 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 225.5% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 8,231 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,966,000 after buying an additional 3,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $698,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,551,251.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 7,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,033,483.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at $4,551,251.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,237 shares of company stock worth $572,739 in the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $266.66 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.75, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $268.95 and a 200-day moving average of $248.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $215.32 and a 52-week high of $287.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $716.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.45 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 252.11% and a net margin of 32.03%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.51 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $268.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $268.29.

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.