Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Sells 18,544 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. decreased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 448,407 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 18,544 shares during the quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. owned about 0.32% of Verisk Analytics worth $123,505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 188.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $7,454,000 after purchasing an additional 16,742 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 479.1% in the third quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 16,853 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,516,000 after buying an additional 13,943 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 14.4% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 70,667 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $18,936,000 after acquiring an additional 8,884 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 63,217 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $16,940,000 after acquiring an additional 9,145 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

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Insider Activity

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 9,066 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Verisk Analytics stock traded up $0.99 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $298.61. 621,595 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 759,346. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $291.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $281.66. The firm has a market cap of $41.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. 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 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $306.10.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. On average, analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan 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 buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on VRSK shares. 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 report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on 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 boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $299.33.

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.