Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Acquires 10,331 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 225.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,919 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,331 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $4,440,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $310.41 on Monday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $257.59 and a one year high of $322.92. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $303.01 and its 200 day moving average is $292.39. The stock has a market cap of $43.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The business had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 26.35%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America began coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $302.40.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total value of $1,755,314.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. This trade represents a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total value of $3,649,027.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 67,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,051,406.64. This represents a 14.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,259 shares of company stock worth $7,553,769 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.46% 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.