Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Acquired by Wealth Alliance

Wealth Alliance lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,147 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 47 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $274,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 421.9% during the 4th quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. now owns 75,404 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $18,011,000 after buying an additional 60,957 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 36.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,332 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $315,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 522,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $124,777,000 after purchasing an additional 28,008 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 558,840 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $132,020,000 after purchasing an additional 31,855 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 552,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $130,479,000 after purchasing an additional 99,115 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total value of $346,433.22. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $223.33 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $31.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.05, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $187.86 and a 52-week high of $251.98. The business has a fifty day moving average of $235.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $237.26.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $673.56 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on VRSK. Bank of America downgraded Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $252.00.

Verisk Analytics 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.