Guardian Partners Inc. Acquires Shares of 5,977 Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Guardian Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 5,977 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,676,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,422,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $19,465,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 233,517 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $64,319,000 after buying an additional 1,177 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 44.9% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 13,384 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,686,000 after buying an additional 4,149 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,764 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $486,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047 in the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSK traded up $4.86 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $296.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 852,357 shares, compared to its average volume of 718,865. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.10. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $290.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.19. The company has a market capitalization of $41.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.32, a PEG 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock 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 reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

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

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.