International Assets Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 9,061.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,752 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 26,460 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $6,390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 506.5% during the 3rd quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 188 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $247.00 on Wednesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $209.02 and a 1-year high of $251.98. The stock has a market cap of $35.24 billion, a PE ratio of 46.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $231.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $236.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 28.45% and a return on equity of 268.19%. The business had revenue of $704.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $699.07 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.53 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 29.10%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on VRSK shares. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $254.31.

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.