Gotham Asset Management LLC Acquires 4,694 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 28.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,094 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,694 shares during the quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $5,810,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total transaction of $337,028.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,940,865.96. The trade was a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total value of $1,755,314.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,980,456.16. This trade represents a 30.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.7%

VRSK opened at $301.57 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $42.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $245.01 and a 12 month high of $312.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $292.55 and a 200 day moving average of $287.34.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

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.