NorthRock Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 2,117 Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

NorthRock Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $583,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 897 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $247,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Bell Bank increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Bell Bank now owns 1,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 1,076 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Haverford Trust Co raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 903 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 2.0%

VRSK opened at $307.36 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $292.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $287.75. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $245.01 and a 1-year high of $312.82. 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 (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 26.35%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised 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. Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $302.40.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics 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 owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.