Maridea Wealth Management LLC Invests $299,000 in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Maridea Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,084 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $299,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in VRSK. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 188.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $7,454,000 after purchasing an additional 16,742 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $212,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 479.1% during the third quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 16,853 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,516,000 after buying an additional 13,943 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 14.4% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 70,667 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $18,936,000 after buying an additional 8,884 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 16.9% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 63,217 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $16,940,000 after acquiring an additional 9,145 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

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Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This 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 worth $1,613,047 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird upped 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.3 %

VRSK stock traded up $0.99 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $298.61. 621,595 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 759,695. 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 $291.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $281.66. The firm has a market cap of $41.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. On average, sell-side 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 share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.60%. 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 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.