LGT Group Foundation Buys 6,394 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

LGT Group Foundation boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,070 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,394 shares during the quarter. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $12,689,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s 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 owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 90 days, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,264,818. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target 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. 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. Barclays cut shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $296.91 on Monday. 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 $284.30 and its 200-day moving average is $278.42. The stock has a market cap of $41.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.32, 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 $300.50.

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 declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. 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 0.61%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

About Verisk Analytics

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.