Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Acquired by Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,421,008 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,069 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 1.01% of Verisk Analytics worth $391,389,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $331,476,000 after acquiring an additional 78,376 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 29.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 104,536 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,011,000 after acquiring an additional 23,823 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $911,000 after acquiring an additional 545 shares during the period. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,432,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total transaction of $337,028.94. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,940,865.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,837 shares of company stock worth $1,121,618. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $288.24 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $291.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $284.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $306.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. 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. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $297.40.

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.