AGF Management Ltd. Buys Shares of 8,852 Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

AGF Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 8,852 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,438,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of VRSK. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $334,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.2% during the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $543,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.7% during the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in 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. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 4.8% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $289.50 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $287.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $279.98. The company has a market capitalization of $40.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.10.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio 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.