EFG Asset Management North America Corp. Has $2.53 Million Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

EFG Asset Management North America Corp. lowered its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 11.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,184 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,213 shares during the period. EFG Asset Management North America Corp.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,530,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on VRSK shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047 over the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $287.76 on Wednesday. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $306.10. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $289.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $281.00. The company has a market cap of $40.37 billion, a PE ratio of 44.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

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

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.