Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Sells 849 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA lowered its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,964 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 849 shares during the period. Verisk Analytics comprises 1.5% of Middleton & Co. Inc. MA's portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $13,211,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, 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 transaction of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company'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 transaction, the insider now directly 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 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818 over the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VRSK. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $2.65 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $296.89. The stock had a trading volume of 699,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 728,052. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $285.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $278.90. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $306.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. 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.

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 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 company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase 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 purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

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

About Verisk Analytics

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.