Boston Trust Walden Corp Lowers Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Boston Trust Walden Corp reduced its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 8,150 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 46 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,197,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Westpac Banking Corp increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 94.8% during the 4th quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 1,243 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 346,646 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $82,800,000 after buying an additional 34,077 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 225.5% in the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 205,110 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $48,993,000 after buying an additional 142,088 shares in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 8,231 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,966,000 after acquiring an additional 3,219 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $698,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $266.63 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $270.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $250.52. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $215.32 and a 12-month high of $287.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86. The company has a market capitalization of $38.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.74, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.84.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $722.45 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 29.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,551,251.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $55,476.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at $4,551,251.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 726 shares of company stock worth $196,682 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $268.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $273.54.

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.