Simplicity Solutions LLC Has $1.03 Million Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Simplicity Solutions LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 29.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,320 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 980 shares during the period. Simplicity Solutions LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,032,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,523,191 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,777,279,000 after purchasing an additional 392,945 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.8% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,821,265 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $731,736,000 after buying an additional 49,928 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 248.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,765,708 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $664,346,000 after buying an additional 2,684,234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1,404.8% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,992,727 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $470,762,000 after buying an additional 1,860,298 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $222.10 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $236.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $237.46. The firm has a market cap of $31.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.76, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.85, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $187.86 and a 52-week high of $251.98.

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). The firm had revenue of $677.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.56 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 305.15% and a net margin of 22.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.43 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

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

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America lowered Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $252.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 50,208 shares in the company, valued at $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,407.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total value of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,514,344. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.