Geode Capital Management LLC Has $1.05 Billion Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 19,423 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,051,300,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $298.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.59, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $291.57 and its 200-day moving average is $281.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $306.10.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. Equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan 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 buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays cut shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

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.