Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Purchases New Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 43,437 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $11,964,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $526,676,000. Amundi increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 52.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $351,226,000 after acquiring an additional 430,719 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 6.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $331,476,000 after buying an additional 78,376 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 822,644 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $226,581,000 after buying an additional 21,494 shares during the period. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 782,819 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $231,532,000 after buying an additional 81,604 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

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Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.5 %

Verisk Analytics stock traded down $1.39 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $287.95. 248,409 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 867,081. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $306.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.92, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $292.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $282.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 26.87%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,628,433. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $297.40.

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.