Lindbrook Capital LLC Raises Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 16.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 383 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $91,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 3.4% during the third quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Alliance lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 1,147 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.8% during the third quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC now owns 6,149 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,453,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,490 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,528,824.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952 over the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VRSK. Bank of America cut shares of 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 report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $252.00.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $222.25 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85. The company has a fifty day moving average of $233.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $236.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.79, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $187.86 and a 52 week high of $251.98.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($0.04). The firm 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.43 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 37.05%.

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.