Virtue Capital Management LLC Has $222,000 Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Virtue Capital Management LLC lessened its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 42.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 807 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 601 shares during the period. Virtue Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased 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 buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on VRSK. UBS Group raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. 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 objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective 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 assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $302.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $313.77 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $296.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $289.68. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $245.01 and a 12-month high of $315.11. 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 (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $750.31 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics 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.