D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Increases Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 65.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 594,356 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 235,642 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned 0.42% of Verisk Analytics worth $163,703,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $212,000. Norris Perne & French LLP MI boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI now owns 61,889 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $17,046,000 after acquiring an additional 1,126 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 68.7% during the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 105,331 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $29,011,000 after buying an additional 42,883 shares in the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 41,155 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $11,335,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $2,957,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the business'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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total transaction of $337,028.94. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,940,865.96. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,837 shares of company stock valued at $1,121,618 over the last ninety days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $309.90 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $243.28 and a 12-month high of $312.62. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $291.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $286.12.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $297.40.

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.

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