Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Acquired by Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC

Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 27.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,153 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $272,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $374,530,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 90.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,141,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $272,663,000 after purchasing an additional 542,432 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 45.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,342,721 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $320,722,000 after purchasing an additional 422,002 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 5.5% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,523,191 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,777,279,000 after purchasing an additional 392,945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 21.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,195,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $282,418,000 after purchasing an additional 211,032 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK stock traded down $1.65 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $221.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 815,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 855,469. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $187.86 and a twelve month high of $251.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85. The business has a fifty day moving average of $232.86 and a 200-day moving average of $236.57. The stock has a market cap of $31.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 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 the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($0.04). Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 305.15%. The business had revenue of $677.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $673.56 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 37.05%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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