E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Reduces Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,444 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 152 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $345,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Alliance increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 1,147 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 48.5% during 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 in the last quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC now owns 6,149 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,490 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total transaction of $375,619.75. Following the sale, the insider now owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total transaction of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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. Insiders have sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $0.41 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $244.98. 522,968 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 902,776. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.90 and a twelve month high of $251.98. The company has a market cap of $34.95 billion, a PE ratio of 45.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $231.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $236.09.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Saturday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend 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 29.10%.

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

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.