Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Has $546,000 Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd reduced its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 72.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,983 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,119 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $546,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $973,000. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,262 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,174,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 910 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $251,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Redmond Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 9,215 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,538,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Finally, Matauro LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $392,000. 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 the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $296.91 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.32, a P/E/G 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 $300.50. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $284.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $278.35.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.87%.

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.