RIA Advisory Group LLC Acquires Shares of 1,092 Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

RIA Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $261,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 421.9% during the 4th quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. now owns 75,404 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $18,011,000 after purchasing an additional 60,957 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 36.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,332 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 522,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $124,777,000 after purchasing an additional 28,008 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 558,840 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $132,020,000 after purchasing an additional 31,855 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 552,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $130,479,000 after purchasing an additional 99,115 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Verisk Analytics stock traded down $0.81 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $222.52. The company had a trading volume of 714,302 shares, compared to its average volume of 873,905. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $187.86 and a 52 week high of $251.98. The company has a 50 day moving average of $235.78 and a 200-day moving average of $237.26. The firm has a market cap of $31.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.86, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by ($0.04). Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 305.15%. The company had revenue of $677.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.56 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.43 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 37.05%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on VRSK. Bank of America downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $252.00.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 51,715 shares in the company, valued at $11,528,824.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.