LWM Advisory Services LLC Has $477,000 Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

LWM Advisory Services LLC lessened its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,995 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 53 shares during the period. LWM Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $477,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.5% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,523,191 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,777,279,000 after buying an additional 392,945 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,929,841 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,164,626,000 after buying an additional 182,631 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,661,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $392,526,000 after purchasing an additional 89,920 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,195,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $282,418,000 after purchasing an additional 211,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,048,905 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $247,793,000 after purchasing an additional 60,228 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,829,348.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.3 %

Verisk Analytics stock traded up $0.71 during trading on Monday, hitting $221.85. 911,706 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 877,998. The business’s 50 day moving average is $232.86 and its 200 day moving average is $236.45. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $187.86 and a 52 week high of $251.98. The company has a market capitalization of $31.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.59, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. The company had revenue of $677.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.56 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.43 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 21st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 37.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on VRSK. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America lowered Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $252.00.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.