Vident Advisory LLC Purchases 9,646 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Vident Advisory LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 95.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,722 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,646 shares during the quarter. Vident Advisory LLC's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $5,432,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in VRSK. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $526,676,000. Amundi raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% in the 4th 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 4th quarter worth about $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 393,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,435,012,000 after purchasing an additional 392,270 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $314.35 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $293.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $288.51. The firm has a market cap of $43.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $245.01 and a 12 month high of $314.65.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. On average, analysts expect 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 26.35%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total transaction of $337,028.94. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,940,865.96. The trade was a 7.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

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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