Welch & Forbes LLC Raises Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Welch & Forbes LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,297 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 964 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $4,370,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth $39,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 506.5% during the third quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 188 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth $50,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total transaction of $375,619.75. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at $12,514,344. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $5.14 on Tuesday, hitting $247.00. The stock had a trading volume of 1,094,494 shares, compared to its average volume of 908,485. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94. The stock has a market cap of $35.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.08, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $231.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $236.09. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $209.02 and a 1-year high of $251.98.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 28.45% and a return on equity of 268.19%. The company had revenue of $704.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $699.07 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. Verisk Analytics’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.31.

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.