Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Bought by Bennett Selby Investments LP

Bennett Selby Investments LP raised its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,208 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 9,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,910,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 20.9% during the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,549 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $744,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 1,689 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $503,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,880 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $518,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,880 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,643,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, 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 transaction of $88,614.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,603 shares of company stock valued at $3,904,741 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK opened at $319.60 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $300.68 and a 200-day moving average of $291.70. The company has a market capitalization of $44.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.86, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.87. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $257.59 and a 1-year high of $322.92. 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 (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The company’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan 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 reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.35%.

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.