E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 468 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 30.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,011 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 468 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,410 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 974 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,737 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $465,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 34,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,222,000 after purchasing an additional 4,614 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $377,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the topic of several analyst reports. 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays cut shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $300.48 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $306.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $286.38 and a 200 day moving average of $279.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.88, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted 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 net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. 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. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

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

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.