Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,564 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $466,000.
Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6,050.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 123 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Financial Private Client LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 966.7% in the 1st quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 128 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research firms have weighed in on VRSK. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price 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. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. 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 report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $302.40.
Get Our Latest Report on VRSK
Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.1%
NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $306.02 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $305.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $292.91. The stock has a market cap of $42.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.87. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $257.59 and a 1 year high of $322.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27.
Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released 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. The business 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 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.35%.
Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.
Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics
In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.10, for a total value of $1,723,783.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 56,701 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,036,588.10. This represents a 8.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,940,865.96. This trade represents a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,259 shares of company stock valued at $7,553,769. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
About Verisk Analytics
(
Free Report)
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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