MetLife Investment Management LLC Increases Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 43,579 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 62 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $12,003,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $331,476,000 after buying an additional 78,376 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 29.5% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 104,536 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,011,000 after buying an additional 23,823 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $911,000 after acquiring an additional 545 shares during the period. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $1,432,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $293.02 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $306.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $292.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $284.20. The company has a market capitalization of $41.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.71, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. On average, analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $297.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,940,865.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,837 shares of company stock valued at $1,121,618. Company insiders own 0.46% 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.