Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Sells 142 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. cut its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,175 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 142 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $758,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 506.5% during the 3rd quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 188 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total value of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,528,824.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $244.98 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $212.90 and a one year high of $251.98. The firm has a market cap of $34.95 billion, a PE ratio of 45.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $231.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $236.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $704.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $699.07 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 28.45% and a return on equity of 268.19%. Verisk Analytics’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.53 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Saturday, June 15th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.31.

About Verisk Analytics

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.