Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 6,025 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Wellington Management Group LLP lessened its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 184,262 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 6,025 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 0.13% of Verisk Analytics worth $50,751,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the fourth 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 period. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK stock traded down $0.99 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $316.00. 179,104 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 757,160. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $251.59 and a twelve month high of $317.81. The company has a market capitalization of $44.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $298.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $290.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

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

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. 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 is currently 26.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 value of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.