Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC Has $724,000 Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 18.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $724,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,435,012,000 after buying an additional 392,270 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,292,047,000 after purchasing an additional 72,045 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,051,300,000 after purchasing an additional 19,423 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $526,676,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,654,826 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $455,789,000 after purchasing an additional 144,599 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.10, for a total value of $1,723,783.90. Following the sale, the insider now owns 56,701 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,036,588.10. This trade represents a 8.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,259 shares of company stock worth $7,553,769 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America began coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $307.23 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $42.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.87. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $257.59 and a 1 year high of $322.92. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $304.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $292.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 33.13% and a return on equity of 396.08%. The business had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.35%.

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.