State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Cuts Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 36.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 50,744 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 29,571 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $13,678,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.2% during the second quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 3,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $982,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 19.0% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.9% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Webster Bank N. A. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 28.4% during the first quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Weil Company Inc. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Weil Company Inc. now owns 9,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,296,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.38, for a total transaction of $55,476.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,408 shares in the company, valued at $4,551,251.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 7,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,033,483.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,551,251.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 726 shares of company stock worth $196,682 over the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $268.79 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $215.32 and a 52 week high of $287.13. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $271.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $253.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.86. The stock has a market cap of $38.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.15, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.10. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 252.11% and a net margin of 32.03%. The business had revenue of $716.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.51 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 29.10%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $278.00 to $263.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $255.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $268.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $276.14.

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.