Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) CAO David J. Grover Sells 6,481 Shares

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,829,348.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK opened at $233.93 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $33.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.79. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $184.04 and a 52-week high of $251.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The business’s fifty day moving average is $241.43 and its 200-day moving average is $239.04.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by ($0.04). Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 305.15%. The firm had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $673.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 37.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America downgraded Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $253.00 price target (up previously from $252.00) on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Friday, December 8th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $252.00.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 34.7% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 4,224 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $907,000 after acquiring an additional 1,089 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 22,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,906,000 after purchasing an additional 716 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at $636,000. National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 195,526 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,966,000 after buying an additional 1,093 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 14.4% during the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 9,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.