Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Director Sells $3,649,027.36 in Stock

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total transaction of $3,649,027.36. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 67,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,051,406.64. This trade represents a 14.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK stock traded down $1.30 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $309.12. The company had a trading volume of 221,713 shares, compared to its average volume of 759,021. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $257.59 and a 12 month high of $322.92. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $303.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $292.39. The firm has a market cap of $43.24 billion, a PE ratio of 48.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.40.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,733,589 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,980,251,000 after buying an additional 239,483 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,235,090 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,558,067,000 after acquiring an additional 25,010 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,292,047,000 after acquiring an additional 72,045 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,051,300,000 after acquiring an additional 19,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 36.0% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,251,051 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $669,958,000 after purchasing an additional 596,225 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

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.