Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Position Reduced by DF Dent & Co. Inc.

DF Dent & Co. Inc. trimmed its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 361,529 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 10,063 shares during the period. DF Dent & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $99,576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 188.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,454,000 after purchasing an additional 16,742 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $212,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 16.9% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 63,217 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,940,000 after buying an additional 9,145 shares in the last quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI now owns 61,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $17,046,000 after buying an additional 1,126 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 58,782 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,751,000 after acquiring an additional 2,042 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $299.71 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $306.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $291.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $281.99. The firm has a market cap of $42.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

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

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VRSK. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.33.

About Verisk Analytics

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.