O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Has $35.63 Million Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 42.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 129,347 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 94,847 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $35,626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.4% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 7,453 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,997,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 70,667 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,936,000 after buying an additional 8,884 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 6,183 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,657,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth $705,000. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 9,504 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,547,000 after acquiring an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VRSK. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target 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. Finally, Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.8 %

VRSK opened at $294.58 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $306.10. The company has a market cap of $41.32 billion, a PE ratio of 45.96, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company has a 50 day moving average of $290.81 and a 200 day moving average of $281.39.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan 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 reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are 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.