Northern Trust Corp Acquires 197,413 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,639,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 197,413 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 1.16% of Verisk Analytics worth $451,628,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $292.37 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.68. The firm has a market cap of $40.92 billion, a PE ratio of 45.61, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $291.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $285.04.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 dividend yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.40.

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.