Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stake Cut by Axxcess Wealth Management LLC

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 24.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,190 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 720 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $523,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 346,646 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $82,800,000 after buying an additional 34,077 shares during the last quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 421.9% during the fourth quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. now owns 75,404 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,011,000 after purchasing an additional 60,957 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 522,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $124,777,000 after purchasing an additional 28,008 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 36.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,332 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the period. Finally, abrdn plc lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 55.2% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 60,324 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,409,000 after purchasing an additional 21,458 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on VRSK shares. 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. 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, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

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 shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, 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 transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,829,348.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,514,344. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $247.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.08, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.79. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $209.02 and a 1-year high of $251.98. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $231.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $236.09.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $704.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $699.07 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 268.19% and a net margin of 28.45%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 29.10%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership 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.