Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by SRN Advisors LLC

SRN Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,425 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 194 shares during the period. Verisk Analytics accounts for 1.3% of SRN Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. SRN Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,221 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $863,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 26,695.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 31,083 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,329,000 after acquiring an additional 30,967 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 18.5% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 17,103 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,583,000 after purchasing an additional 2,671 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 110.6% during the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,807 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 949 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 5,273 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,413,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,264,818 in the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $313.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $295.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 3.9 %

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $288.03 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $40.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.93, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $283.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $277.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $300.50.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

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.