Riverwater Partners LLC Sells 259 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Riverwater Partners LLC lowered its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 16.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,275 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 259 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $379,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 25.6% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 805 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth about $221,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 16,541 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,922,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Wolf Group Capital Advisors bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at about $275,000. Finally, Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,475 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total value of $1,755,314.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. This trade represents a 30.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,940,865.96. This represents a 7.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,259 shares of company stock worth $7,553,769 in the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $306.27 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $257.59 and a 12-month high of $322.92. The company has a market cap of $42.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.84, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $304.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $292.79.

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

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued 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 0.59%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price 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. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $302.40.

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.