GAMMA Investing LLC Increases Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 36,332.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,204,468 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,201,162 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC owned about 0.86% of Verisk Analytics worth $358,474,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norris Perne & French LLP MI raised 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 valued at $17,046,000 after acquiring an additional 1,126 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 68.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 42,883 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 747,337 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $205,839,000 after purchasing an additional 53,502 shares during the period. Finally, Sycomore Asset Management raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 27.4% during the 4th quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 24,085 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,382,000 after purchasing an additional 5,187 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded up $0.52 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $317.51. 865,181 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 759,858. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.53, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $298.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $290.71. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $251.59 and a 52-week high of $318.08. 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 (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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 26.35%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. This trade represents a 30.60% decrease in their position. 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Verisk Analytics 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.