Crew Capital Management Ltd. Has $778,000 Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Crew Capital Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 246.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,823 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,009 shares during the quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd.'s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $778,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 188.2% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $7,454,000 after buying an additional 16,742 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $212,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 899.1% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,919 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,913,000 after buying an additional 10,726 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 479.1% during the third quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 16,853 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,516,000 after buying an additional 13,943 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 15.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,908 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $9,622,000 after buying an additional 4,767 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company 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 a consensus target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of VRSK traded down $2.65 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $296.89. 699,578 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 727,340. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $306.10. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $285.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $279.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The company has a market cap of $41.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has initiated 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 reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.