ExodusPoint Capital Management LP Boosts Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

ExodusPoint Capital Management LP raised its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 36.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,374 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,050 shares during the period. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $7,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. 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 research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned 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.

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Verisk Analytics Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of VRSK stock traded down $7.34 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $282.00. The stock had a trading volume of 473,702 shares, compared to its average volume of 779,428. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.56 billion, a PE ratio of 43.90, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $292.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $282.84.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The company 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%. Equities analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback 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 reacquire 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,628,433. 0.40% of the stock is owned by 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.