EP Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 254 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 13.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 254 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $406,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 221 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on VRSK. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.31.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $268.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $243.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $240.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $38.35 billion, a PE ratio of 50.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.83. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $215.32 and a 1 year high of $270.38.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $704.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $699.07 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 28.45% and a return on equity of 268.19%. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.29 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Saturday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 29.10%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total transaction of $52,462.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,356,444.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Verisk Analytics news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were 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 owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at $2,829,348.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.31, for a total transaction of $52,462.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,356,444.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,746 shares of company stock valued at $2,285,415. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.