Brown Advisory Inc. Has $519.77 Million Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Brown Advisory Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,887,138 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 26,829 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. owned approximately 1.34% of Verisk Analytics worth $519,774,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,435,012,000 after purchasing an additional 392,270 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,292,047,000 after acquiring an additional 72,045 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,051,300,000 after acquiring an additional 19,423 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $526,676,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,654,826 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $455,789,000 after acquiring an additional 144,599 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK traded up $1.44 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $296.19. 879,858 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 761,075. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $291.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $285.95. The company has a market cap of $41.45 billion, a PE ratio of 46.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. 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 1-year low of $242.55 and a 1-year high of $306.68.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 26.87%.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,837 shares of company stock worth $1,121,618. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $297.40.

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.