FORA Capital LLC Sells 10,852 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

FORA Capital LLC lessened its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 93.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 783 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 10,852 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $216,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $526,676,000. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 52.4% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,226,000 after acquiring an additional 430,719 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $108,646,000 after purchasing an additional 393,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,435,012,000 after purchasing an additional 392,270 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price 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. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $298.90.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,940,865.96. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $309.50 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $292.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $286.82. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $245.01 and a one year high of $312.82. The company has a market capitalization of $43.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. Verisk Analytics’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.