Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Has $628,000 Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 21.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,280 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $628,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised 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 valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $291.01 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $40.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $288.31 and its 200-day moving average is $280.40. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $306.10.

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits 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 leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 value of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on VRSK. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.33.

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.