Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.
Verisk Analytics Trading Down 1.0 %
Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $292.23 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $306.68. 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's 50-day simple moving average is $292.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $283.65.
Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.
Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.87%.
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.
Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics
Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the third quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $331,476,000 after buying an additional 78,376 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 29.5% during the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 104,536 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $28,011,000 after buying an additional 23,823 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,306 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $911,000 after buying an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth about $1,432,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research firms have commented on VRSK. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $297.40.
View Our Latest Research Report on Verisk Analytics
Verisk Analytics Company Profile
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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