Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Has $703,000 Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 26.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,551 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 526 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $703,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley upped 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 note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $288.03 on Thursday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $287.38 and its 200-day moving average is $279.92. The stock has a market cap of $40.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.93, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $306.10.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.