Van ECK Associates Corp Grows Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 955 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $5,296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 9,489 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,242,000 after buying an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.7% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 12,621 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,982,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 36.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,332 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Telemus Capital LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $200,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 22.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 329 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total transaction of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,514,344. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952 in the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $237.33 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $205.70 and a 1-year high of $251.98. The company’s 50-day moving average is $231.42 and its 200 day moving average is $235.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Saturday, June 15th will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Bank of America cut Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.31.

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.