WoodTrust Financial Corp Has $7.04 Million Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

WoodTrust Financial Corp boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 25,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the quarter. Verisk Analytics accounts for about 1.0% of WoodTrust Financial Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. WoodTrust Financial Corp’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $7,040,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $543,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.7% in the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $672,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 897 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 974 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bell Bank grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Bell Bank now owns 1,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,066,180.70. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $299.54 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $285.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $278.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $306.10.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. As a group, 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 share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. 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. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

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.