Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,654,826 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 144,599 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 1.17% of Verisk Analytics worth $455,789,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,066,180.70. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business'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 sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,628,433 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.
Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.3 %
Shares of NASDAQ VRSK traded up $3.92 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $295.80. 156,428 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 777,973. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $306.68. The business's fifty day moving average price is $292.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $283.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.40 billion, a PE ratio of 46.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88.
Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.
Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.
Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
VRSK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $297.40.
Read Our Latest Research Report on VRSK
Verisk Analytics Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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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