Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Insider Nicholas Daffan Sells 5,419 Shares

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.10, for a total value of $1,723,783.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 56,701 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,036,588.10. The trade was a 8.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $0.99 on Friday, hitting $319.60. 530,802 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 760,118. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $300.26 and a 200-day moving average of $291.38. The stock has a market cap of $44.71 billion, a PE ratio of 49.86, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.87. 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 fifty-two week low of $257.59 and a fifty-two week high of $325.37.

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

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.35%.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $526,676,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $508,611,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 631.0% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,415,439 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $422,676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,221,798 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 36,332.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,204,468 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $358,474,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201,162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 36.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,251,051 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $669,958,000 after purchasing an additional 596,225 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.40.

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.