Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Makes New $866,000 Investment in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased 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 Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,910 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $866,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America began coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of VRSK stock traded down $3.50 on Friday, reaching $310.41. 544,037 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 761,141. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $257.59 and a 12-month high of $322.92. The business's 50 day moving average price is $303.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $292.41. The company has a market capitalization of $43.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.87.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid 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 0.58%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.35%.

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

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total transaction of $3,649,027.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 67,244 shares in the company, valued at $21,051,406.64. The trade was a 14.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the transaction, the director now 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 quarter, insiders sold 24,259 shares of company stock worth $7,553,769. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.