Parallel Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,347 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,237,700,000 after acquiring an additional 283,653 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,226,000 after acquiring an additional 430,719 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $331,476,000 after acquiring an additional 78,376 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 822,644 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $226,581,000 after buying an additional 21,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 782,819 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $231,532,000 after buying an additional 81,604 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $287.68 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $306.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a fifty day moving average of $288.95 and a 200-day moving average of $280.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. Equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047 in the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on VRSK shares. Barclays cut shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics 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.