MGO One Seven LLC Purchases Shares of 5,223 Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

MGO One Seven LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 5,223 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,439,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 392,270 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,292,047,000 after purchasing an additional 72,045 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,051,300,000 after purchasing an additional 19,423 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $526,676,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,654,826 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $455,789,000 after acquiring an additional 144,599 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,066,180.70. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 3,837 shares of company stock valued at $1,121,618. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $1.33 during trading on Thursday, hitting $295.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 279,409 shares, compared to its average volume of 768,104. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $291.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $285.12. The company has a market capitalization of $41.30 billion, a PE ratio of 45.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. 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 fifty-two week low of $222.61 and a fifty-two week high of $306.68.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. As a group, research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 26.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on 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 started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $297.40.

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.