Grandfield & Dodd LLC Reduces Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Grandfield & Dodd LLC lessened its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 146,091 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,439 shares during the period. Verisk Analytics comprises approximately 2.4% of Grandfield & Dodd LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Grandfield & Dodd LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $34,895,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 67.5% during the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 134 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares in the company, valued at $11,528,824.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares in the company, valued at $11,528,824.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,829,348.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America downgraded Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $252.00.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $0.81 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $222.52. 714,317 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 927,408. The company has a market capitalization of $31.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.78. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $235.22 and a 200 day moving average of $237.16.

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

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

About Verisk Analytics

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.