Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Purchases 274 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,272,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 67.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 134 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of VRSK opened at $222.10 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average is $236.86 and its 200 day moving average is $237.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.70 billion, a PE ratio of 52.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $187.86 and a fifty-two week high of $251.98.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $673.56 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.43 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 37.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,528,824.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952 over the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Bank of America cut shares of Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $252.00.

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.