Trillium Asset Management LLC Sells 2,127 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Trillium Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 93,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,127 shares during the period. Trillium Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $25,724,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.1% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 22,124 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 423.1% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 7,392 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,981,000 after acquiring an additional 5,979 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.9% during the third quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,010 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $271,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.8% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 6,390 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,712,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.7 %

VRSK stock opened at $288.93 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $288.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $280.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $306.10. The stock has a market cap of $40.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. Analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase 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 generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047 over the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics 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.