Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,388 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $4,631,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Callahan Advisors LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 9,524 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,275,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,669 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after buying an additional 337 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $247,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 9,061.6% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 26,752 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,390,000 after buying an additional 26,460 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 7,823 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,869,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $252.00.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $223.36 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $238.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $237.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market cap of $31.88 billion, a PE ratio of 53.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.78. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $187.86 and a 1-year high of $251.98.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by ($0.04). Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 305.15%. The firm had revenue of $677.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $673.56 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.43 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 37.05%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total transaction of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Verisk Analytics news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at $2,829,348.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total transaction of $375,619.75. Following the sale, the insider now owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,514,344. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 9,771 shares of company stock valued at $2,307,406. Insiders own 1.31% of the company’s stock.

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.