Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Bought by Mackenzie Financial Corp

Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 18.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 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 approximately 0.46% of Verisk Analytics worth $177,612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on VRSK shares. Bank of America started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. 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 report on Thursday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $302.40.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total value of $1,755,314.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,937 shares in the company, valued at $3,980,456.16. This represents a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187 over the last ninety days. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.1%

NASDAQ VRSK traded down $0.20 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $315.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 612,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 767,193. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $245.01 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The company has a market cap of $44.20 billion, a PE ratio of 49.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $296.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $289.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $753.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Verisk Analytics's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.35%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors 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.