Fielder Capital Group LLC Purchases New Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Fielder Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $573,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,066,180.70. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,264,818 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of VRSK opened at $290.11 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $283.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $278.03. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $300.50. 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 firm has a market cap of $40.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.