Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by Gitterman Wealth Management LLC

Gitterman Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,747 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 189 shares during the period. Verisk Analytics comprises 0.2% of Gitterman Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Gitterman Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $418,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,523,191 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,777,279,000 after purchasing an additional 392,945 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 3.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,929,841 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,164,626,000 after purchasing an additional 182,631 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,661,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $392,526,000 after purchasing an additional 89,920 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 21.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,195,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $282,418,000 after purchasing an additional 211,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,048,905 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $247,793,000 after purchasing an additional 60,228 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,796 shares in the company, valued at $1,852,407.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total transaction of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,514,344. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK traded down $1.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $221.14. 815,689 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 855,469. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $187.86 and a fifty-two week high of $251.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50 day moving average is $232.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $236.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $673.56 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.43 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VRSK. Bank of America lowered Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $252.00.

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.