Gitterman Wealth Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Gitterman Wealth Management LLC decreased its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,747 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 189 shares during the quarter. Verisk Analytics makes up 0.2% of Gitterman Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Gitterman Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $418,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter worth about $39,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 506.5% in the third quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 188 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter worth about $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at $2,829,348.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at $2,829,348.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America lowered Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $252.00.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $1.65 during trading on Friday, hitting $221.14. The company had a trading volume of 815,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 855,469. The stock has a market cap of $31.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.78. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $187.86 and a one year high of $251.98. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $232.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $236.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $677.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.56 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 305.15%. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.05%.

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.