Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Purchases 4,137 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 24.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,240 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,137 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $5,850,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $526,676,000. Amundi lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $351,226,000 after purchasing an additional 430,719 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 393,218 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in 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 valued at $1,435,012,000 after buying an additional 392,270 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VRSK. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.40.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, 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 transaction of $1,755,314.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187 over the last ninety days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK traded up $3.82 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $321.33. 1,006,759 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 761,329. The company has a market cap of $44.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.13, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.87. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $299.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $290.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $254.46 and a twelve month high of $321.54.

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. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The business had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 EPS. Verisk Analytics's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are 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.