Commerce Bank Sells 483 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Commerce Bank lowered its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,658 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 483 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,660,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 193,589 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,290,000 after purchasing an additional 4,107 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 137,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $37,842,000 after buying an additional 24,306 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $2,449,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,188 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after buying an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Capital Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,891 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $796,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the subject of several research reports. 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note 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 note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price 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. Finally, 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 report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $297.40.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $284.35 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $292.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $284.33. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.68. The company has a market capitalization of $39.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

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 dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.87%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,837 shares of company stock valued at $1,121,618. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

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.