Bruce Edward Hansen Sells 1,179 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stock

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,940,865.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Bruce Edward Hansen also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, March 7th, Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44.
• On Friday, February 7th, Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 4.4 %

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $289.34 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $40.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.14, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $292.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $282.84. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $306.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend 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 26.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 188.2% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,454,000 after acquiring an additional 16,742 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at $212,000. Norris Perne & French LLP MI lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI now owns 61,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $17,046,000 after purchasing an additional 1,126 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 3.6% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 58,782 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 68.7% during the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 105,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,011,000 after purchasing an additional 42,883 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

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.