Jump Financial LLC Sells 745 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Jump Financial LLC lessened its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 15.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,019 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 745 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $526,676,000. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 52.4% in the 4th 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. acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $108,646,000 after buying an additional 393,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the fourth 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,837 shares of company stock worth $1,121,618 in the last quarter. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $297.40.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.3 %

VRSK opened at $293.02 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.01 billion, a PE ratio of 45.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. 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 fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $306.68. The company’s 50-day moving average is $292.29 and its 200 day moving average is $284.20.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. As a group, research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

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

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.