Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,085 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $574,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 4,165 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 687 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 29.4% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,457 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 9,533 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,626,000 after acquiring an additional 612 shares during the period. Burney Co. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 35.9% during the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 2,558 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $705,000 after acquiring an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,522 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $419,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.1%

NASDAQ VRSK traded down $0.42 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $312.68. 130,930 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 766,904. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $245.01 and a fifty-two week high of $314.65. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $294.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $288.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.74 billion, a PE ratio of 48.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company 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 of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on VRSK shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird lifted 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $302.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total transaction of $337,028.94. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,940,865.96. The trade was a 7.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,980,456.16. This trade 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 over the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.