Saiph Capital LLC Has $787,000 Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Saiph Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 18.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,856 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 445 shares during the quarter. Verisk Analytics makes up approximately 0.3% of Saiph Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Saiph Capital LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $787,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price 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, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK opened at $288.93 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $288.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $280.51. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.10. The company has a market capitalization of $40.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The business 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%. Equities analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

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 reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value 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 trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.