Zacks Investment Management Purchases Shares of 8,893 Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Zacks Investment Management purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 8,893 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,449,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $526,676,000. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 52.4% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $351,226,000 after purchasing an additional 430,719 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $108,646,000 after buying an additional 393,218 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,435,012,000 after acquiring an additional 392,270 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,837 shares of company stock worth $1,121,618 over the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on VRSK. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $297.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of VRSK traded down $0.95 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $291.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 220,805 shares, compared to its average volume of 773,817. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.51, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The company's 50-day moving average is $292.06 and its 200-day moving average is $284.39. 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 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $306.68.

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

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics 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.