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 Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

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

• On Friday, February 7th, Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05.
• On Tuesday, January 7th, Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $288.03 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $306.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The business has a fifty day moving average of $287.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $279.92. The company has a market cap of $40.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. As a group, analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSK has been the topic of a number of research reports. 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 research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $334,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $543,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $672,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 897 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 974 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

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.