Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Buys 408 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 21.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,280 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 408 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $628,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets upped 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Six 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.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.8 %

VRSK stock opened at $291.01 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $40.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.40, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $306.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $288.31 and a 200-day moving average of $280.40.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 quarter, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.