Mackenzie Financial Corp Increases Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 18.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 644,855 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 98,992 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned 0.46% of Verisk Analytics worth $177,612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VRSK. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 897 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Bell Bank lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Bell Bank now owns 1,005 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 1,076 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Haverford Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 903 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective 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 dropped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. 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 MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $302.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total value of $1,755,314.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,980,456.16. The trade was a 30.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the 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 sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,940,865.96. This trade represents a 7.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187 over the last ninety days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of VRSK traded down $1.80 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $314.16. 331,699 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 765,529. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.95 billion, a PE ratio of 49.04, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $297.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $290.04. 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 52 week low of $245.01 and a 52 week high of $322.96.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a share buyback program 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.