Savant Capital LLC Raises Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Savant Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 19.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 215 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 22,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,296,000 after purchasing an additional 955 shares in the last quarter. EWA LLC increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. EWA LLC now owns 1,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 3,416 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $816,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the period. PGGM Investments lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 33,018 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,887,000 after acquiring an additional 492 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 57,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,779,000 after purchasing an additional 9,665 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the firm’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 value of $375,619.75. Following the sale, the insider now owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the sale, the insider now owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $53,937.47. Following the transaction, the insider now directly 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 valued at $2,647,952. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Bank of America cut Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.31.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $241.86 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94. The company has a market cap of $34.51 billion, a PE ratio of 45.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.79. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $209.02 and a 52 week high of $251.98. The business’s 50 day moving average is $231.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $236.00.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 28.45% and a return on equity of 268.19%. The company had revenue of $704.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $699.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.53 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.