Insider Selling: Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Director Sells $337,028.94 in Stock

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total transaction of $337,028.94. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,940,865.96. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Bruce Edward Hansen also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, March 7th, Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44.
• On Friday, February 7th, Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $6.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $291.88. 835,049 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 780,372. The firm has a market cap of $40.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. 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 business's fifty day simple moving average is $292.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $283.17. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $306.68.

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

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 26.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America began coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $297.40.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 worth $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

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.