NEOS Investment Management LLC Has $4.16 Million Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 19.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,116 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,481 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $4,163,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth about $834,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.4% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 7,453 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,997,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 10.0% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 16,381 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,390,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $391,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 70,667 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $18,936,000 after buying an additional 8,884 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 firm’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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $4,066,180.70. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, 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. Six equities research 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 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $296.89 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.10. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $290.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $281.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The company has a market cap of $41.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. 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. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 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.