Sycomore Asset Management Increases Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Sycomore Asset Management grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 13.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 15,976 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,940 shares during the quarter. Sycomore Asset Management’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,790,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter worth approximately $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 Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at $2,829,348.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total value of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,829,348.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total transaction of $53,937.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSK remained flat at $222.25 on Wednesday. 1,008,746 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 875,711. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.86 and a 12 month high of $251.98. The firm has a market cap of $31.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.79, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $233.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $236.82. 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 released 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 for 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board 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 given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America downgraded shares of 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 report on Monday, January 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $252.00.

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.