Janus Henderson Group PLC Reduces Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Janus Henderson Group PLC lowered its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 47.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,121 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 16,145 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $4,992,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $526,676,000. Amundi increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 52.4% during the 4th 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. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $110,094,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 31,634.6% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 394,461 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $108,646,000 after purchasing an additional 393,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total value of $337,028.94. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total transaction of $1,755,314.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,980,456.16. This trade represents a 30.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VRSK. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective 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 assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK stock opened at $309.57 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $43.30 billion, a PE ratio of 48.29, 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $293.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $288.24. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $245.01 and a 12-month high of $312.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

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.

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