Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Buys 555 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,011 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.0 %

VRSK stock opened at $297.62 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $291.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $281.66. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $306.10. 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 market capitalization of $41.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program 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 reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $4,071,832.96. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics 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 directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on VRSK. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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 upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

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.