Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Purchased by Scotia Capital Inc.

Scotia Capital Inc. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 17.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,815 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,417 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc.'s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $8,212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,628,433 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK stock traded up $3.22 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $295.10. 837,585 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 780,600. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $306.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $292.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $283.30. The firm has a market cap of $41.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. 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. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a share repurchase 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 reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics 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.