GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd Has $240.51 Million Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd lessened its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 10.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 873,220 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 100,226 shares during the period. Verisk Analytics accounts for about 3.9% of GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd owned 0.62% of Verisk Analytics worth $240,511,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company'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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.7 %

VRSK stock traded up $4.86 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $296.89. 852,357 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 718,865. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one 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 company has a market cap 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. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $290.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.19.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The business had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $733.55 million. Research analysts predict 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 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 programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

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.