42,259 Shares in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Bought by Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 42,259 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,652,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $526,676,000. Amundi grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 52.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,226,000 after purchasing an additional 430,719 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $108,646,000 after purchasing an additional 393,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,435,012,000 after buying an additional 392,270 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $284.99 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.46, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $292.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $282.49. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $306.68.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, 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 value of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.