NS Partners Ltd Has $34.31 Million Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

NS Partners Ltd trimmed its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 124,561 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,058 shares during the quarter. Verisk Analytics makes up about 1.4% of NS Partners Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. NS Partners Ltd’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $34,308,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 188.2% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,454,000 after buying an additional 16,742 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $212,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 899.1% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,919 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,913,000 after purchasing an additional 10,726 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 479.1% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 16,853 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,516,000 after purchasing an additional 13,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 15.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,622,000 after purchasing an additional 4,767 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays cut shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $300.48 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $286.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $279.36.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. As a group, research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics 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.