Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV Boosts Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV increased its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 5.1% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 944 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $281,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Marshall Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.8% in the first quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 5,079 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.7% in the first quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 6,282 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,870,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at approximately $237,000. USA Financial Formulas boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.9% in the first quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 4,721 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,405,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 16.0% in the first quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on VRSK. 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 report on Thursday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 1.1%

VRSK stock opened at $310.41 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $257.59 and a one year high of $322.92. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $303.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $292.39. The company has a market capitalization of $43.42 billion, a PE ratio of 48.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.87.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The company had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

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

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.10, for a total value of $1,723,783.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 56,701 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,036,588.10. This represents a 8.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total transaction of $3,649,027.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 67,244 shares in the company, valued at $21,051,406.64. This represents a 14.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,259 shares of company stock worth $7,553,769 in the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.