Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Acquired by Ethic Inc.

Ethic Inc. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,454 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,099 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $5,909,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 897 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Bell Bank grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Bell Bank now owns 1,005 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 1,076 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Haverford Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 903 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total value of $1,755,314.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,980,456.16. The trade was a 30.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187 in the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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 lifted their price target 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 lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $5.85 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $303.65. 990,473 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 765,319. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $292.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $287.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $42.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $245.01 and a fifty-two week high of $312.82.

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

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

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.