Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by Marshall Wace LLP

Marshall Wace LLP cut its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 97.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 207,918 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,241,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research 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 research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $297.40.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK stock opened at $292.37 on Wednesday. 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 one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $306.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.92 billion, a PE ratio of 45.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $291.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $285.04.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. On average, analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,940,865.96. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,837 shares of company stock worth $1,121,618 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

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.