Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Buys 1,315 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 115.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,456 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,315 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $587,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Transform Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Transform Wealth LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC now owns 6,149 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,490 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $356,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK opened at $222.10 on Wednesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $187.86 and a 12-month high of $251.98. 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 fifty day simple moving average is $236.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $237.46. The company has a market capitalization of $31.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.76, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued 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 company 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 business earned $1.43 EPS. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the transaction, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.