Ethic Inc. Has $5.91 Million Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Ethic Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 21,454 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,099 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $5,909,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total transaction of $337,028.94. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,940,865.96. This trade 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 sold 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $309.50 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $43.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.28, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $244.99 and a twelve month high of $312.82. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $292.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $286.68.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase 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 buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 26.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VRSK. Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on 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 increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $298.90.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.