Meeder Asset Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in 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 firm purchased 35,020 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $8,365,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 67.5% during the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 134 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Friday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.64, for a total transaction of $355,109.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 48,860 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,513,370.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.64, for a total value of $355,109.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 48,860 shares in the company, valued at $11,513,370.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,278 shares of company stock valued at $2,662,515 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.5 %

Verisk Analytics stock traded up $1.13 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $227.65. The stock had a trading volume of 579,887 shares, compared to its average volume of 918,998. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $239.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $238.25. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.96 and a twelve month high of $251.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market cap of $32.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.07, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.78.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. The firm had revenue of $677.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $673.56 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.43 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.05%.

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.