Rafferty Asset Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 59,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,355 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $16,419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $70,005,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 180,647 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $49,756,000 after purchasing an additional 29,037 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 17,060 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,699,000 after purchasing an additional 4,174 shares during the period. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $574,000. Finally, Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 31,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,672 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $307.36 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $245.01 and a 52 week high of $312.82. 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’s 50 day moving average is $292.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $287.75.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program 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 purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VRSK. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped 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, May 8th. One equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $302.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

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.