Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Invests $62,000 in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 258 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $62,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 67.5% in the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 134 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the sale, the insider now owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $222.52 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.86 and a 12 month high of $251.98. 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 firm has a market cap of $31.76 billion, a PE ratio of 52.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $235.22 and a 200-day moving average of $237.18.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $673.56 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 305.15%. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.43 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan 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 purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors 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 currently 37.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lowered 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 note on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 price target 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.