Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Purchased by TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 12.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 29,343 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,153 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $8,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 897 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Bell Bank raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Bell Bank now owns 1,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 1,076 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Haverford Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 903 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,837 shares of company stock worth $1,121,618. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays cut shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $297.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $284.35 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $39.79 billion, a PE ratio of 44.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.68. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $292.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $284.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

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.