Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC Has $724,000 Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 18.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 384 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $724,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Adero Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.0% during the first quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 1,078 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $321,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at approximately $466,000. Trust Point Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.4% in the first quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 1,687 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $502,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. Optas LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth $260,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 13,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,921,000 after acquiring an additional 1,899 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total transaction of $3,649,027.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 67,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,051,406.64. This trade represents a 14.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,259 shares of company stock worth $7,553,769 over the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of VRSK opened at $307.23 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $304.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $292.60. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $257.59 and a 12 month high of $322.92. The company has a market capitalization of $42.98 billion, a PE ratio of 44.98, a PEG ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. The company had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

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