Bruce Edward Hansen Sells 1,179 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stock

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Bruce Edward Hansen also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, February 7th, Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05.
• On Tuesday, January 7th, Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $290.53 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 50-day moving average of $287.13 and a 200 day moving average of $279.86. The company has a market capitalization of $40.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.32, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. 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 released its quarterly earnings data 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. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $33,981,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $96,000. Shufro Rose & Co. LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $3,044,000. Integrated Advisors Network LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 1,623 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $447,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,581 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $711,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.