Napatree Capital LLC Buys Shares of 759 Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Napatree Capital LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 759 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $543,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $672,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 897 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $247,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 974 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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 lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK stock opened at $285.16 on Monday. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $289.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $280.81. The firm has a market cap of $40.00 billion, a PE ratio of 44.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $306.10.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally 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 will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics 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.