Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Acquired by Appleton Partners Inc. MA

Appleton Partners Inc. MA boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,737 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 985 shares during the period. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $10,074,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Westpac Banking Corp lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 94.8% during the fourth quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 1,243 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 346,646 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $82,800,000 after buying an additional 34,077 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 225.5% in the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 205,110 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $48,993,000 after buying an additional 142,088 shares in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 64.2% in the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 8,231 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,966,000 after buying an additional 3,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fenimore Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 421.9% during the fourth quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. now owns 75,404 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,011,000 after acquiring an additional 60,957 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.31.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,511 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $376,057.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 52,500 shares in the company, valued at $13,066,200. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at $2,829,348.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,546 shares of company stock valued at $2,232,953. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK traded up $0.37 on Tuesday, hitting $268.06. 103,901 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 857,337. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $242.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $240.16. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $215.32 and a twelve month high of $268.47. The firm has a market cap of $38.25 billion, a PE ratio of 49.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.83.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 268.19% and a net margin of 28.45%. The business had revenue of $704.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $699.07 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 29.10%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.