OLD National Bancorp IN Decreases Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

OLD National Bancorp IN reduced its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 48.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,678 shares during the quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $422,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 48.5% in 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 during the period. NewSquare Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 506.5% in the third quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 188 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter valued at about $50,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at $12,514,344. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,514,344. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952 over the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $222.25 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $31.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50 day moving average is $233.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $236.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $187.86 and a 12-month high of $251.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85.

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

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VRSK. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America lowered Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. 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, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $252.00.

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.