Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 770,310 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,548 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.53% of Verisk Analytics worth $183,996,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 346,646 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $82,800,000 after buying an additional 34,077 shares during the last quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 60,957 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.7% in 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 period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 104.6% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 163,791 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,978,000 after purchasing an additional 83,732 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 36.2% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,332 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $315,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $53,937.47. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952 over the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $244.98 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $231.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $236.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94. The stock has a market cap of $34.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.79. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.90 and a 12 month high of $251.98.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 28.45% and a return on equity of 268.19%. The business had revenue of $704.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $699.07 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.29 EPS. Verisk Analytics’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.31.

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.