EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 615 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 121.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,123 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 615 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.3 %

VRSK stock opened at $288.58 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $287.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $280.20. The company has a market cap of $40.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week 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.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is a positive change 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 26.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

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.