Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Buys 274 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 274 shares during the quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,272,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 67.5% during the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 134 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $222.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $31.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $187.86 and a 52 week high of $251.98. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $236.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $237.46.

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 37.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the sale, the insider now owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.