Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Lowers Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 66 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. LGT Group Foundation increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 46,070 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,689,000 after purchasing an additional 6,394 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,806 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,329,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 33.8% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 11,872 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,270,000 after acquiring an additional 2,999 shares during the period. Finally, Norden Group LLC raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 1,177 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on VRSK. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $299.54 on Wednesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $306.10. The stock has a market cap of $42.30 billion, a PE ratio of 46.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $285.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $278.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.