Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Sells 45 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,184 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 45 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value 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 trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. 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 research report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of VRSK opened at $288.58 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $306.10. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $287.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $280.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.02, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued 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 yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

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.