GAMMA Investing LLC Buys New Shares in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,409 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $340,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 20.5% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,654 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,099,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 61.7% during the third quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 5,441 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,285,000 after acquiring an additional 2,077 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 9,101 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,150,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Harvey Investment Co. LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Harvey Investment Co. LLC now owns 144,755 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,197,000 after purchasing an additional 8,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 47.9% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 25,348 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,988,000 after purchasing an additional 8,207 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VRSK. Bank of America downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $252.00.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $222.25 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $187.86 and a 1 year high of $251.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.72 billion, a PE ratio of 52.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $233.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $236.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($0.04). Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. The firm had revenue of $677.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $673.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 37.05%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.