Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Purchased by Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,203 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 463 shares during the period. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,637,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,258 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $605,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 384.3% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 27,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,471,000 after purchasing an additional 22,124 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.8% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 6,390 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,712,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 45,153 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,099,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the period. Finally, Commerce Bank raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 10,141 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,717,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This trade 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 have sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $287.68 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $40.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $288.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $280.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $306.10.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

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.