Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Increases Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 38.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 88,365 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 24,340 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina owned about 0.06% of Verisk Analytics worth $24,338,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Vestcor Inc grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 6.8% during the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 5,167 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,385,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,410 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $651,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.8% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 83,150 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $22,281,000 after buying an additional 2,253 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.9% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 13,993 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,750,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the period. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.8% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 974 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $264,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,071,832.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,628,433. Insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.1 %

Verisk Analytics stock traded up $3.22 during trading on Monday, reaching $295.10. 837,585 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 780,600. 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 stock's 50 day simple moving average is $292.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $283.30. The company has a market capitalization of $41.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.04, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $306.68.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $733.55 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays downgraded 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 research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $297.40.

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.