Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Acquires 4,069 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,421,008 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,069 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 1.01% of Verisk Analytics worth $391,389,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quantessence Capital LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $826,000. Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 574,232 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $158,161,000 after purchasing an additional 6,631 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp raised 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 during the last quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 67.3% during the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 32,121 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $8,847,000 after buying an additional 12,925 shares during the period. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 29,343 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $8,082,000 after buying an additional 3,153 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $1.01 on Wednesday, hitting $293.38. The stock had a trading volume of 107,278 shares, compared to its average volume of 769,918. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.68. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $291.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $285.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $41.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $297.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,940,865.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,837 shares of company stock valued at $1,121,618. Company insiders own 0.46% 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.