Wellington Management Group LLP Has $50.75 Million Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Wellington Management Group LLP trimmed its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 184,262 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 6,025 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 0.13% of Verisk Analytics worth $50,751,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $526,676,000. Amundi boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $108,646,000 after purchasing an additional 393,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 29,469.0% during the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 233,004 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $64,176,000 after acquiring an additional 232,216 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.9 %

VRSK stock traded down $2.46 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $286.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 303,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 778,641. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.81, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The company's fifty day moving average price is $292.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $282.84. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $306.68. 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 (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $297.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,066,180.70. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,628,433. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

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.