Schroder Investment Management Group Boosts Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 953,753 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 34,826 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group owned approximately 0.68% of Verisk Analytics worth $262,692,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $526,676,000. Amundi increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $351,226,000 after purchasing an additional 430,719 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $331,476,000 after purchasing an additional 78,376 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 worth $226,581,000 after purchasing an additional 21,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 11.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 81,604 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VRSK. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded up $0.99 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $298.61. 621,595 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 759,695. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $306.10. The company has a fifty day moving average of $291.20 and a 200-day moving average of $281.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 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 analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.45 dividend. 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%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.