Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Bought by Tidal Investments LLC

Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 48.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,463 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,754 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,331,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the 4th 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 acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the company’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,980,456.16. This trade represents a 30.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $314.34 on Friday. 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 $43.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.04, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $295.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $289.10. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $245.01 and a 1 year high of $315.11.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. Verisk Analytics’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign 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. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

About Verisk Analytics

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.