USA Financial Formulas Has $2.36 Million Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

USA Financial Formulas boosted its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 408.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,863 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,922 shares during the quarter. Verisk Analytics accounts for 0.4% of USA Financial Formulas' investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. USA Financial Formulas' holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,523,191 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,777,279,000 after purchasing an additional 392,945 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,195,471 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $282,418,000 after buying an additional 211,032 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,929,841 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,164,626,000 after buying an additional 182,631 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 131.2% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 312,569 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $73,841,000 after buying an additional 177,391 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 27.0% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 608,307 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $143,706,000 after acquiring an additional 129,281 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on VRSK. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an "in-line" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $254.31.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK stock traded down $1.97 during trading on Monday, hitting $246.34. The company had a trading volume of 399,217 shares, compared to its average volume of 895,075. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94. The business has a 50 day moving average of $231.72 and a 200 day moving average of $236.44. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.90 and a fifty-two week high of $251.98.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $704.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $699.07 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 28.45% and a return on equity of 268.19%. The business's revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Saturday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the sale, the insider now owns 51,715 shares in the company, valued at $11,528,824.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the firm'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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,793 shares of company stock valued at $2,272,332 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

About Verisk Analytics

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.