Jones Financial Companies Lllp Grows Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 33.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,872 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,999 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $296.89 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $285.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $279.03. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $306.10. The firm has a market cap of $41.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VRSK. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.