Proficio Capital Partners LLC Increases Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 31,634.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 394,461 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 393,218 shares during the quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC owned 0.28% of Verisk Analytics worth $108,646,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.7 %

VRSK opened at $290.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $40.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $300.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $283.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $278.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

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

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. 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 90 days, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. 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 report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Six equities research 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

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.