Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp Purchases 81 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,585 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,640,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,410 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $378,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 974 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,737 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $465,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 34,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,222,000 after buying an additional 4,614 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter valued at about $377,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $300.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $42.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.88, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $286.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $279.43.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. 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 dividend yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.