Insider Selling: Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Director Sells 1,179 Shares of Stock

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,940,865.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Bruce Edward Hansen also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, March 7th, Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44.
• On Friday, February 7th, Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 4.4 %

VRSK opened at $289.34 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $40.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $292.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $282.84. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $306.68. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. 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 boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 897 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.8% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 974 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Bell Bank lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Bell Bank now owns 1,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, BSW Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 1,076 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $296,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

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.