Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 17.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,800 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 265 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 67.5% in the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 134 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total value of $346,433.22. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952 in the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $222.52 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $187.86 and a 52-week high of $251.98. The firm has a market cap of $31.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.86, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s fifty day moving average is $235.22 and its 200 day moving average is $237.16.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.39 dividend. This is a positive change 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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