TD Private Client Wealth LLC Has $3.74 Million Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

TD Private Client Wealth LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,593 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,744,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,764 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $486,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 13,203 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,637,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 4,453 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,226,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 68,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $19,004,000 after purchasing an additional 7,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 63,497 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $17,489,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of VRSK opened at $285.16 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $306.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.49, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $289.28 and a 200-day moving average of $280.71.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

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

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSK has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.