Sei Investments Co. Acquires 1,177 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 233,517 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,177 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned about 0.17% of Verisk Analytics worth $64,319,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 7.1% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,258 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $605,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 10,141 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,717,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,152 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $845,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.2% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,025 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $543,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 111.5% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 24,681 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,614,000 after acquiring an additional 13,010 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics 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 value of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded up $4.86 during trading on Thursday, reaching $296.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 852,357 shares, compared to its average volume of 722,112. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one 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 has a market cap of $41.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The business's fifty day moving average price is $290.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.08.

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $299.33.

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.