8,893 Shares in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Acquired by Zacks Investment Management

Zacks Investment Management bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 8,893 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,449,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,837 shares of company stock valued at $1,121,618 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on VRSK. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. 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 report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.40.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $293.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $41.01 billion, a PE ratio of 45.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $306.68. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $292.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $283.83. 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.87%.

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.