Grandfield & Dodd LLC Reduces Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Grandfield & Dodd LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 143,687 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,158 shares during the period. Verisk Analytics makes up 2.4% of Grandfield & Dodd LLC's holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Grandfield & Dodd LLC owned 0.10% of Verisk Analytics worth $39,576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 2.2% during the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,025 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $543,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.7% in the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $672,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 897 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 4.8% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Bell Bank boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Bell Bank now owns 1,005 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Verisk Analytics stock traded down $2.65 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $296.89. The company had a trading volume of 699,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 727,340. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $306.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $285.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $279.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.65 billion, a PE ratio of 46.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 is an increase from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,264,818 in the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $299.33.

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.