Crew Capital Management Ltd. Buys 2,009 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Crew Capital Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 246.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,823 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,009 shares during the period. Crew Capital Management Ltd.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $778,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 188.2% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,454,000 after acquiring an additional 16,742 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $212,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 899.1% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,919 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,913,000 after acquiring an additional 10,726 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 479.1% in the third quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 16,853 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,516,000 after acquiring an additional 13,943 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 15.3% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,622,000 after acquiring an additional 4,767 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $299.54 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $285.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $278.90. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $306.10. The firm has a market cap of $42.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend 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%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,264,818. Company insiders own 0.40% 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.