MJP Associates Inc. ADV Buys 196 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

MJP Associates Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 11.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,903 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 196 shares during the quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $524,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,940,865.96. This represents a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187 in the last ninety days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on VRSK. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $298.90.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $309.50 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $292.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $286.97. The company has a market cap of $43.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.28, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. 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 $245.01 and a fifty-two week high of $313.41.

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

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

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.