Marks Group Wealth Management Inc Acquires 170 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Marks Group Wealth Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 14,942 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,569,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 506.5% in the third quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 188 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth about $50,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, 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 sale, the insider now owns 51,715 shares in the company, valued at $11,528,824.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sold 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $222.25 on Wednesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $187.86 and a 52-week high of $251.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $31.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $234.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $236.93.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $677.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $673.56 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 305.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.43 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 presently 37.05%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.