WBI Investments LLC Acquires Shares of 9,069 Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

WBI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 9,069 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,498,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Procyon Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 1,601 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 6,307 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,693 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 822 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,198 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $881,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $703,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total transaction of $337,028.94. Following the sale, the director now 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. Insiders have sold a total of 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187 in the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective 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. 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 upped their price objective 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. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.2%

VRSK stock traded down $0.57 during trading on Friday, hitting $313.77. 547,896 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 767,821. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $245.01 and a 1 year high of $315.11. The firm's 50 day moving average is $295.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $289.34. The stock has a market cap of $43.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.95, 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 (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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

Verisk Analytics 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.