Hills Bank & Trust Co Has $666,000 Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Hills Bank & Trust Co decreased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 15.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,787 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 501 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $666,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 346,646 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $82,800,000 after acquiring an additional 34,077 shares during the period. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 421.9% in the fourth quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. now owns 75,404 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,011,000 after buying an additional 60,957 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 522,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $124,777,000 after buying an additional 28,008 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 104.6% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 163,791 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,978,000 after buying an additional 83,732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 36.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,332 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $0.41 during trading on Thursday, hitting $244.98. 522,915 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 902,776. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $212.90 and a 1-year high of $251.98. The company has a market capitalization of $34.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s 50 day moving average is $231.52 and its 200-day moving average is $236.15.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 28.45% and a return on equity of 268.19%. The firm had revenue of $704.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $699.07 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Saturday, June 15th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 29.10%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total value of $346,433.22. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Verisk Analytics 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 transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total transaction of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,528,824.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.