Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Director Bruce Edward Hansen Sells 1,179 Shares

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,071,832.96. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Bruce Edward Hansen also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, February 7th, Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05.
• On Tuesday, January 7th, Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of VRSK traded down $2.48 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $298.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,644,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 727,358. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The company has a market capitalization of $41.80 billion, a PE ratio of 46.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $306.10. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $286.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $279.70.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.