Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Purchased by US Bancorp DE

US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 44,784 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,808 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $12,336,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,385,000. Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 2,730 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $752,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 353 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $97,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $573,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,481 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,641,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $301.33 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $284.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $278.67. 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 twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $302.25. The stock has a market cap of $42.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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