Insider Selling: Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Insider Sells 1,554 Shares of Stock

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total value of $346,433.22. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Nicholas Daffan also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, March 12th, Nicholas Daffan sold 1,531 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.12, for a total value of $361,499.72.
• On Monday, February 12th, Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75.
• On Tuesday, January 16th, Nicholas Daffan sold 25 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.48, for a total value of $5,887.00.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK stock traded down $0.35 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $222.18. The company had a trading volume of 1,070,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 871,138. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.86 and a 12 month high of $251.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.77, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78. The firm's fifty day moving average is $237.39 and its 200 day moving average is $237.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.44 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.56 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. The firm's revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.43 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 37.05%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. SMI Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth $3,893,000. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth $40,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,683 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $868,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth $11,582,000. Finally, Peak Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 22.7% during the 1st quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,666 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,750,000 after buying an additional 2,159 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on VRSK. Evercore ISI reissued an "in-line" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America lowered Verisk Analytics from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $252.00.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.