Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Grows Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 10,791 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 434 shares during the quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,972,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,237,700,000 after purchasing an additional 283,653 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position 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 buying an additional 430,719 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position 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 buying an additional 78,376 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 822,644 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $226,581,000 after acquiring an additional 21,494 shares during the period. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 782,819 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $231,532,000 after acquiring an additional 81,604 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $288.93 on Wednesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month 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 stock has a market cap of $40.53 billion, a PE ratio of 45.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $288.62 and its 200 day moving average is $280.51.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS 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 net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.87%.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 three months, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on VRSK shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley upped 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 lifted 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 increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Six equities research 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 an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

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.