HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Raises Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,446 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 111 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $720,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $334,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $672,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 897 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.8% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 974 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bell Bank grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Bell Bank now owns 1,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $298.61 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.10. The company has a market cap of $41.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.59, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $291.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.87.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 26.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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. Finally, Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

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.