Quantessence Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 3,000 Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Quantessence Capital LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,000 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $826,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fayez Sarofim & Co grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 574,232 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $158,161,000 after buying an additional 6,631 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 83,058 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $22,880,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 67.3% in the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 32,121 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $8,847,000 after purchasing an additional 12,925 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 29,343 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $8,082,000 after purchasing an additional 3,153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 98.4% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 10,601 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,920,000 after purchasing an additional 5,258 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded down $2.19 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $286.05. The stock had a trading volume of 1,016,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 773,741. 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 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $291.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $284.73.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $733.55 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,837 shares of company stock worth $1,121,618. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on 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, Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $297.40.

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.