Vanguard Group Inc. Lowers Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,494,106 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 50,723 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 11.68% of Verisk Analytics worth $4,542,972,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,237,700,000 after acquiring an additional 283,653 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,252,532 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $351,226,000 after purchasing an additional 430,719 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.8% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.7% in the 4th 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 increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 11.6% during the 4th 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. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

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Insider Activity

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was 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 owns 9,066 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of 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 boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $2.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $294.58. 728,975 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 758,234. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $290.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $281.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.96, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $306.10.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $733.55 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.87%.

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.