City National Bank of Florida MSD Acquires New Shares in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

City National Bank of Florida MSD acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 929 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Novem Group bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $820,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,219,674 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $335,935,000 after purchasing an additional 233,011 shares in the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $208,000. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 88.9% in the fourth quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 21,820 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,010,000 after acquiring an additional 10,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,354,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VRSK. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price 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, UBS Group lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.8%

VRSK traded up $2.41 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $316.18. 175,317 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 765,863. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $245.01 and a 12-month high of $316.50. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $296.05 and a 200 day moving average of $289.68.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 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 analyst estimates of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Verisk Analytics's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.63 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors 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 0.57%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in 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 often an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total transaction of $1,755,314.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. The trade was a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders have sold a total of 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

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.