Novem Group Makes New $820,000 Investment in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Novem Group acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,977 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $820,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,435,012,000 after purchasing an additional 392,270 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,292,047,000 after purchasing an additional 72,045 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,051,300,000 after purchasing an additional 19,423 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $526,676,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,654,826 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $455,789,000 after buying an additional 144,599 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price 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, Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK stock traded up $1.76 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $315.53. 145,636 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 765,718. The stock's 50-day moving average is $296.05 and its 200-day moving average is $289.68. The stock has a market cap of $44.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $245.01 and a 52 week high of $315.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $753.00 million for 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%. Verisk Analytics's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend 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 currently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187. 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.