Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by Mutual of America Capital Management LLC

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 16,919 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 623 shares during the quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $4,660,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Flputnam Investment Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 2,730 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $752,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 353 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $573,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,481 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,641,000 after buying an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $108,646,000 after acquiring an additional 393,218 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $299.54 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $306.10. The company has a market cap of $42.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $285.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $278.90.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’s 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. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.