1,054 Shares in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Purchased by FFT Wealth Management LLC

FFT Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,054 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

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

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $288.03 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $283.61 and a 200-day moving average of $277.94. The company has a market cap of $40.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.93, 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 quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $300.50.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on VRSK. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $313.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.33.

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.