Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Position Boosted by NewEdge Advisors LLC

NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 13.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,188 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $526,676,000. Amundi raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 52.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,226,000 after purchasing an additional 430,719 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $108,646,000 after purchasing an additional 393,218 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased 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 worth $1,435,012,000 after purchasing an additional 392,270 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $288.24 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $40.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.97, a PEG 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $291.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $284.58.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. Analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in 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 generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total transaction of $337,028.94. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,940,865.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 3,837 shares of company stock worth $1,121,618. Corporate 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.