5,164 Shares in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Purchased by Fox Run Management L.L.C.

Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 5,164 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,422,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,258 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $605,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 384.3% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 27,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,471,000 after acquiring an additional 22,124 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.0% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 45,153 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,099,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares during the period. Commerce Bank boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.6% in the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 10,141 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,717,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth $7,441,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $285.16 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $40.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.49, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $289.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $280.71.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. Analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Verisk Analytics

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.