FORA Capital LLC Reduces Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

FORA Capital LLC lessened its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 93.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 783 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 10,852 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $216,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $526,676,000. Amundi grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,226,000 after purchasing an additional 430,719 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $108,646,000 after buying an additional 393,218 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,435,012,000 after acquiring an additional 392,270 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of VRSK opened at $309.50 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $292.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $286.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $245.01 and a one year high of $312.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.28, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase 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 typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $298.90.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.