Yousif Capital Management LLC Has $4.72 Million Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Yousif Capital Management LLC decreased its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,740 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 852 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $4,715,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 506.5% in the 3rd quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 188 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $221.14 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $31.57 billion, a PE ratio of 52.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.78. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $187.86 and a one year high of $251.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $232.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $236.57.

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

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.