Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Acquired by TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 12.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,343 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,153 shares during the quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $8,082,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth $229,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $331,476,000 after acquiring an additional 78,376 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 29.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 104,536 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,011,000 after acquiring an additional 23,823 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $911,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,432,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total transaction of $337,028.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,940,865.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,837 shares of company stock valued at $1,121,618. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 3.0 %

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $284.35 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $292.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $284.33.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Analysts predict 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 share repurchase 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 buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VRSK. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.40.

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.