Logan Capital Management Inc. Sells 1,806 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Logan Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,806 shares during the quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $14,491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $334,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 897 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $247,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Bell Bank boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Bell Bank now owns 1,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 1,076 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Haverford Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 903 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $298.90.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total transaction of $337,028.94. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,940,865.96. This trade represents a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total transaction of $1,755,314.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK opened at $309.50 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. The company has a market capitalization of $43.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.28, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $245.01 and a 1-year high of $313.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $292.29 and a 200-day moving average of $286.97.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.