Vanguard Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,494,106 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 50,723 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Verisk Analytics worth $4,542,972,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.1 %

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $285.40 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $306.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $289.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $280.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given 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 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on VRSK shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on 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 boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics 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.