Nicholas Daffan Sells 1,554 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stock

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total value of $346,433.22. Following the sale, the insider now owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,528,824.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Nicholas Daffan also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, March 12th, Nicholas Daffan sold 1,531 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.12, for a total value of $361,499.72.
• On Monday, February 12th, Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total transaction of $375,619.75.
• On Tuesday, January 16th, Nicholas Daffan sold 25 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.48, for a total transaction of $5,887.00.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK opened at $222.10 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85. The company has a market cap of $31.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $236.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $237.46. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $187.86 and a 12-month high of $251.98.

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

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on VRSK. Bank of America cut shares of Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $252.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 67.5% in the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 134 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

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.