Quantessence Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Quantessence Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 3,000 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $826,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted 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 worth $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $297.40.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,837 shares of company stock valued at $1,121,618. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK traded down $3.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $284.47. 36,093 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 771,244. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $306.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $291.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $284.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted 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 net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm 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 Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding 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 management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.