Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 20.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,246,697 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 315,996 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.88% of Verisk Analytics worth $343,378,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 90.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 12,886 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,453,000 after purchasing an additional 6,105 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 30.2% during the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 7,190 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,927,000 after buying an additional 1,668 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 9.0% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 36,740 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $9,845,000 after buying an additional 3,040 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,903,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 65,010 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $17,420,000 after buying an additional 1,974 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.
Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics
In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,628,433 over the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several research firms have commented on VRSK. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 note on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets increased 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. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $297.40.
View Our Latest Analysis on VRSK
Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.3 %
Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded up $3.92 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $295.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 156,428 shares, compared to its average volume of 777,973. The business has a fifty day moving average of $292.30 and a 200 day moving average of $283.30. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $306.68. 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 capitalization of $41.40 billion, a PE ratio of 46.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88.
Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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 buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.
Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.87%.
About Verisk Analytics
(
Free Report)
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.
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