Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $8.17 Million Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,661 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,892 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.'s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $8,169,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 52.4% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $351,226,000 after purchasing an additional 430,719 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% in 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. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,237,700,000 after buying an additional 283,653 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2,380.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 272,965 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $73,144,000 after buying an additional 261,961 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 2.5 %

VRSK stock opened at $290.53 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $306.10. The business has a 50-day moving average of $287.13 and a 200-day moving average of $279.86.

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Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released 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 firm had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $299.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business'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 transaction of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company'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 value of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047 in the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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