Bessemer Group Inc. Buys 1,013 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,838 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,013 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.'s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $6,841,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 10.8% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,410 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $651,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 83,150 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $22,281,000 after acquiring an additional 2,253 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 974 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. 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 purchasing an additional 16,742 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $297.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $1.67 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $293.90. The company had a trading volume of 180,315 shares, compared to its average volume of 774,428. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $292.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $283.65. The firm has a market cap of $41.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.84, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. 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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The company 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 forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. 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 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,066,180.70. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,948 shares of company stock worth $1,717,047. Company 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.