Mackenzie Financial Corp Has $187.98 Million Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Key Points

• Mackenzie Financial Corp has reduced its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.1%, selling 13,262 shares in the first quarter, leaving it with 631,593 shares worth approximately $188 million.
• Several institutional investors, including LPL Financial and Korea Investment CORP, have increased their positions in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter, reflecting strong institutional interest.
• Verisk Analytics has recently reported quarterly earnings, posting an earnings per share of $1.73, which surpassed analysts' expectations, alongside a 7% year-over-year revenue growth.

Mackenzie Financial Corp lessened its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 2.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 631,593 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 13,262 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned 0.45% of Verisk Analytics worth $187,975,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 36,332.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,204,468 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $358,474,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201,162 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in 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 last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $70,005,000. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $68,908,000. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 65.7% during the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 594,356 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $163,703,000 after purchasing an additional 235,642 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of VRSK traded up $0.87 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $276.34. The stock had a trading volume of 969,235 shares, compared to its average volume of 869,322. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $257.59 and a 12 month high of $322.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.65 billion, a PE ratio of 40.47, a PEG ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.86. The company's 50-day moving average is $306.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $297.24.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $772.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $767.91 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 396.08% and a net margin of 33.13%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.35%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total value of $1,630,360.34. Following the sale, the insider owned 55,913 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,821,985.18. The trade was a 8.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total value of $98,080.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 9,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,803,714.34. The trade was a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 28,825 shares of company stock valued at $8,947,730. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VRSK. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. 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.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $302.30.

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.