Novem Group Acquires New Shares in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

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

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,198 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $881,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $703,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $212,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,549 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,253,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 8,068 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,222,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was 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 directly owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company's 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 owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,071,832.96. This represents a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Bank of America began coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Verisk Analytics stock traded down $0.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $313.77. The company had a trading volume of 547,896 shares, compared to its average volume of 768,135. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $245.01 and a 12-month high of $315.11. The company's fifty day moving average is $295.57 and its 200-day moving average is $289.41. The company has a market capitalization of $43.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.63 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.35%.

About Verisk Analytics

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.