Alliancebernstein L.P. Acquires 392,270 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 8.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 392,270 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 3.69% of Verisk Analytics worth $1,435,012,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.7% during the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $672,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 897 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 974 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bell Bank lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Bell Bank now owns 1,005 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business'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 directly owns 9,066 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK traded up $1.10 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $299.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 748,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 759,256. 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 stock has a market cap of $42.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.76, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.34 and a 1-year high of $306.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $291.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $281.87.

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. The business had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

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

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.