Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC Buys 37 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $334,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,410 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter worth about $377,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 6,730 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,803,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 51,125 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,699,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’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 directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’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 sale, 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. 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 insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $298.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.80 billion, a PE ratio of 46.49, 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $286.82 and its 200 day moving average is $279.70. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has authorized a share 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 generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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 issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 26.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on VRSK. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. 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 note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price 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, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.