JPMorgan Chase & Co. Buys 53,502 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 747,337 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 53,502 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.53% of Verisk Analytics worth $205,839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 14,227 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,919,000 after acquiring an additional 1,633 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 232,529 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $64,243,000 after buying an additional 17,519 shares during the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 74.1% in the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 80,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $22,208,000 after buying an additional 34,309 shares during the period. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 2,784 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $767,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 100,928 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $27,799,000 after acquiring an additional 8,638 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $297.62 on Tuesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $306.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $291.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $281.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The firm has a market cap of $41.75 billion, a PE ratio of 46.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly 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. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. Equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.