Heartland Bank & Trust Co Takes $282,000 Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Heartland Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 947 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $282,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $526,676,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 36,332.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,204,468 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $358,474,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201,162 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $351,226,000 after acquiring an additional 430,719 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $110,094,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $108,646,000 after acquiring an additional 393,218 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total value of $3,649,027.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 67,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,051,406.64. This trade represents a 14.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.10, for a total value of $1,723,783.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 56,701 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,036,588.10. This trade represents a 8.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 24,259 shares of company stock worth $7,553,769. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $306.02 on Monday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $257.59 and a twelve month high of $322.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $305.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $292.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.81 billion, a PE ratio of 44.81, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.87.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. The firm 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 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. Verisk Analytics's 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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.35%.

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

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.

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