Synovus Financial Corp Buys 218 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,737 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,508,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $229,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 6.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $331,476,000 after acquiring an additional 78,376 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 29.5% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 104,536 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,011,000 after acquiring an additional 23,823 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $911,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $1,432,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.40.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $295.10 on Tuesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.68. 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 stock has a market cap of $41.30 billion, a PE ratio of 46.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $292.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $283.51.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

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

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,628,433 in the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is currently 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.