Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Purchased by Summit Financial LLC

Summit Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,571 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the quarter. Summit Financial LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,092,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 392,945 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $282,418,000 after buying an additional 211,032 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 131.2% during 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 period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 22.1% in the third quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 920,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $217,511,000 after acquiring an additional 166,656 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Verisk Analytics stock traded down $1.56 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $231.25. 80,126 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 886,361. The stock has a market cap of $33.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.79. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $198.40 and a 12-month high of $251.98. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $231.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $236.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. The business had revenue of $704.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $699.07 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total value of $346,433.22. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 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 value of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,528,824.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on VRSK. Bank of America downgraded Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $252.00.

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.