American Century Companies Inc. Has $132.85 Million Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

American Century Companies Inc. trimmed its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 482,320 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 9,560 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.34% of Verisk Analytics worth $132,846,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047 in the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley upped 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Six equities research 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, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.7 %

VRSK stock traded up $4.86 during trading on Thursday, hitting $296.89. 852,357 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 722,112. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $290.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $281.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.32, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program 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 programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

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.