Everence Capital Management Inc. Acquires 1,680 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 33.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,730 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,680 shares during the quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,608,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Transform Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Transform Wealth LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $454,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Alliance lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 1,147 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $274,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 48.5% during the 4th 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. Finally, GYL Financial Synergies LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC now owns 6,149 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,453,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

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

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 firm had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.56 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 305.15%. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was 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 $12,514,344. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VRSK. Evercore ISI reissued 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 Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $252.00.

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.