Sycomore Asset Management Has $2.23 Million Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Sycomore Asset Management lowered its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 45.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,259 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 6,981 shares during the period. Sycomore Asset Management’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,229,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 229,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $54,871,000 after buying an additional 3,601 shares during the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 6,830 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,631,000 after buying an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 58,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,902,000 after buying an additional 12,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 55,683 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,300,000 after acquiring an additional 1,124 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider now directly 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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,551,251.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 7,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on VRSK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $268.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.23.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $267.96 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $215.32 and a 1 year high of $287.13. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $269.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $256.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 252.11%. The business had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.51 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 15th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 29.10%.

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.