Quantinno Capital Management LP Acquires 4,174 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 32.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,060 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,174 shares during the quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $4,699,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the business’s 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 $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total transaction of $1,755,314.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. This trade represents a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Bank of America started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. 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 report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $309.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $245.01 and a 12 month high of $312.82. The company has a market capitalization of $43.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.29, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $293.14 and its 200 day moving average is $288.15.

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 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.