JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has $205.84 Million Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 747,337 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 53,502 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.53% of Verisk Analytics worth $205,839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business'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 sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price 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. Robert W. Baird raised their target price 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price target 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. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 6.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $18.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $286.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,148,923 shares, compared to its average volume of 764,086. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $306.68. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $292.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $282.15. 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 capitalization of $40.24 billion, a PE ratio of 45.00, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.