Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Buys 921 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 74.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,166 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 921 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,435,012,000 after buying an additional 392,270 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,292,047,000 after acquiring an additional 72,045 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,051,300,000 after acquiring an additional 19,423 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $526,676,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,654,826 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $455,789,000 after purchasing an additional 144,599 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,940,865.96. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $298.90.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $1.65 on Friday, reaching $309.50. The stock had a trading volume of 707,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 764,149. The company has a market capitalization of $43.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $292.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $286.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $244.99 and a 1-year high of $312.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The business's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.35%.

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.