Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by Cambridge Trust Co.

Cambridge Trust Co. lowered its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 75,981 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,308 shares during the quarter. Cambridge Trust Co.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $18,149,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 421.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 60,957 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 36.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,332 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $315,000 after buying an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 522,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $124,777,000 after acquiring an additional 28,008 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 6.0% in the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 558,840 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $132,020,000 after acquiring an additional 31,855 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 21.9% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 552,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $130,479,000 after acquiring an additional 99,115 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly 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 available at the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at $12,514,344. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952 over the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on VRSK. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America lowered Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $252.00.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK traded up $0.56 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $222.81. The company had a trading volume of 300,651 shares, compared to its average volume of 870,911. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $236.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $237.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $187.86 and a twelve month high of $251.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $673.56 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 305.15%. Verisk Analytics’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.43 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 37.05%.

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.