M&T Bank Corp Purchases 883 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,818 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 883 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $5,734,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK traded up $5.12 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $300.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 754,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 723,671. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $306.10. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $286.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $279.43. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $42.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

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Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. 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 dated 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 directly owns 9,066 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.