Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Buys 337 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 25.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,669 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $399,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 67.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 134 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.4 %

VRSK opened at $222.53 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $31.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $237.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $237.70. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.86 and a 12 month high of $251.98.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 37.05%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America downgraded Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $252.00.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Verisk Analytics news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,829,348.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,771 shares of company stock worth $2,307,406 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.31% of the company’s stock.

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.