Independent Advisor Alliance Buys 1,317 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Independent Advisor Alliance grew its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 11.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,415 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,317 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,419,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on 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 lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six investment 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, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK opened at $288.03 on Thursday. 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. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $287.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $279.92. 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 quarterly 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. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. 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 a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.