Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Acquired by Gotham Asset Management LLC

Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 28.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,094 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,694 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $5,810,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price 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. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded up $2.84 during trading on Monday, hitting $312.41. 132,274 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 767,319. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $245.01 and a 12-month high of $313.18. The stock has a market cap of $43.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.73, 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. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $293.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $288.24.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. Verisk Analytics's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase 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 reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 represents a 1.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187 in the last quarter. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.