Natixis Advisors L.P. Trims Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Natixis Advisors L.P. lessened its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 274,715 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 20,504 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $65,617,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SVB Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 4,746 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,121,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.4% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 9,489 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,242,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.6% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 391,384 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $92,460,000 after purchasing an additional 2,489 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.7% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 12,621 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,982,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 36.2% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,332 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,531 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.12, for a total transaction of $361,499.72. Following the sale, the insider now owns 50,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,035,744.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of VRSK traded up $3.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $237.33. The stock had a trading volume of 1,127,554 shares, compared to its average volume of 906,504. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The business’s fifty day moving average is $231.57 and its 200 day moving average is $236.03. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $205.70 and a 52-week high of $251.98. The firm has a market cap of $33.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.79.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 28.45% and a return on equity of 268.19%. The business had revenue of $704.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $699.07 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.10%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America cut Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $252.21.

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.