Candriam S.C.A. Grows Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Candriam S.C.A. grew its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,265 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $4,299,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Inceptionr LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,215,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $394,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 20,818 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,734,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 7,712 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,124,000 after purchasing an additional 982 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $300.48 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $286.38 and a 200 day moving average of $279.43. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $306.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $733.55 million. On average, 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley upped 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 cut shares of 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed 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 cut their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped 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 note on Thursday, February 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.