905 Shares in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Bought by Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC

Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 905 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 3.4% in the third quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Transform Wealth LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Transform Wealth LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $454,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.8% during the third quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC now owns 6,149 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,453,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,490 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $356,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,796 shares in the company, valued at $1,852,407.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,796 shares in the company, valued at $1,852,407.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,771 shares of company stock worth $2,307,406 over the last three months. 1.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $0.83 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $222.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,039,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 940,094. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $187.86 and a fifty-two week high of $251.98. The company has a market capitalization of $31.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $237.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $237.70.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $677.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $673.56 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on VRSK shares. Bank of America lowered Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $252.00.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.