AGF Management Ltd. Takes $2.44 Million Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

AGF Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 8,852 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,438,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VRSK. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 188.2% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $7,454,000 after acquiring an additional 16,742 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $212,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 899.1% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,919 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,913,000 after buying an additional 10,726 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 479.1% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 16,853 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,516,000 after purchasing an additional 13,943 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,908 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $9,622,000 after purchasing an additional 4,767 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of VRSK traded down $0.92 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $288.58. 740,701 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 728,526. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $306.10. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $287.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $280.13. The firm has a market cap of $40.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $299.33.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the sale, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

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.