Ritholtz Wealth Management Has $837,000 Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Ritholtz Wealth Management cut its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 27.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,813 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,061 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $837,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $526,676,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 36,332.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,204,468 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $358,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201,162 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $351,226,000 after buying an additional 430,719 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $110,094,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $108,646,000 after acquiring an additional 393,218 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on VRSK. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price 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. UBS Group increased 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. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $302.40.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the 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 represents a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total value of $1,755,314.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. The trade was a 30.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,259 shares of company stock worth $7,553,769. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $307.23 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.98 billion, a PE ratio of 44.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $304.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $292.60. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $257.59 and a fifty-two week high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 33.13% and a return on equity of 396.08%. The business had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.

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