Balentine LLC Raises Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Balentine LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 10.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,397 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the period. Balentine LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $334,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 506.5% in the 3rd quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 188 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $58,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on VRSK shares. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total value of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,304 shares of company stock valued at $2,648,390 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.9 %

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $253.64 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $214.67 and a fifty-two week high of $254.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $233.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $237.70. The company has a market capitalization of $36.19 billion, a PE ratio of 47.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.79.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 28.45% and a return on equity of 268.19%. The firm had revenue of $704.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $699.07 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.10%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.