Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Increases Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,433 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. NewSquare Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth $39,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 506.5% in the third quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 188 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the 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 owns 51,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated 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 $2,829,348.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 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 directly owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,528,824.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 11,304 shares of company stock worth $2,648,390. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.31.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $3.21 during trading on Thursday, hitting $251.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 182,783 shares, compared to its average volume of 878,933. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $214.67 and a fifty-two week high of $251.98. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $232.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $236.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $35.82 billion, a PE ratio of 46.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.79.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $704.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $699.07 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 268.19% and a net margin of 28.45%. Verisk Analytics’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.29 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.10%.

Verisk Analytics 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.