Capital Fund Management S.A. Acquires 1,367 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Capital Fund Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 69,973 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,367 shares during the period. Capital Fund Management S.A.'s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $19,273,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,435,012,000 after acquiring an additional 392,270 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,292,047,000 after purchasing an additional 72,045 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,051,300,000 after buying an additional 19,423 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $526,676,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,654,826 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $455,789,000 after purchasing an additional 144,599 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a 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 on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $297.40.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK traded up $3.22 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $295.10. The stock had a trading volume of 837,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 780,600. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.30 billion, a PE ratio of 46.04, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $306.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company's 50-day moving average is $292.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $283.30.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

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

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm'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 directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $4,066,180.70. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,628,433 over the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.