O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Has $35.63 Million Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC trimmed its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 42.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 129,347 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 94,847 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC owned 0.09% of Verisk Analytics worth $35,626,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on VRSK shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on 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 raised 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 note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $299.33.

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Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, 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 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. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company'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 transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was 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 $1,613,047 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK traded up $0.99 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $298.61. The company had a trading volume of 621,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 759,346. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $41.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $306.10. The company's 50-day moving average is $291.20 and its 200-day moving average is $281.66.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.