Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Has $37.84 Million Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 21.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 137,393 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 24,306 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.10% of Verisk Analytics worth $37,842,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth $229,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 78,376 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 29.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 104,536 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $28,011,000 after acquiring an additional 23,823 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,306 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $911,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,432,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK stock traded down $0.76 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $289.29. 196,177 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 772,982. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The company has a market cap of $40.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.13, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $291.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $284.43. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $306.68.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $297.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,837 shares of company stock worth $1,121,618 over the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics 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.