OLD National Bancorp IN Decreases Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

OLD National Bancorp IN lowered its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 48.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,678 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $422,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $222.25 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $187.86 and a 1 year high of $251.98. The firm has a market cap of $31.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.79, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $233.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $236.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by ($0.04). Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. The business had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $673.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 37.05%.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at $12,514,344. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of Verisk Analytics 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 $1,852,407.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America lowered Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $252.00.

Verisk Analytics 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.