State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Has $8.85 Million Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 67.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,121 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,925 shares during the quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $8,847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised 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 worth $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on VRSK shares. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research note 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 note on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $297.40.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.8 %

VRSK traded down $2.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $286.05. The stock had a trading volume of 1,016,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 773,741. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $306.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. 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 fifty day simple moving average is $291.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $284.73.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. 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 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,837 shares of company stock valued at $1,121,618. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.