Markel Group Inc. Purchases 6,000 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Markel Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 120,700 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,000 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. owned about 0.08% of Verisk Analytics worth $28,830,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 506.5% in the third quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 188 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.7 %

VRSK stock traded down $1.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $221.14. 815,688 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 877,721. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $232.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $236.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.57 billion, a PE ratio of 52.53, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $187.86 and a one year high of $251.98.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $673.56 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.43 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.05%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,796 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,531 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.12, for a total transaction of $361,499.72. Following the sale, the insider now owns 50,973 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,035,744.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 owns 7,796 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952 in the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on VRSK. Bank of America cut Verisk Analytics from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reissued an "in-line" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $252.00.

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.

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