Fred Alger Management LLC Has $11.49 Million Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Fred Alger Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 10.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,732 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 4,875 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $11,494,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,210,080 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,435,012,000 after buying an additional 392,270 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,016 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,292,047,000 after buying an additional 72,045 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,051,300,000 after buying an additional 19,423 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $526,676,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,654,826 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $455,789,000 after buying an additional 144,599 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America began coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $298.90.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK traded up $1.65 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $309.50. The stock had a trading volume of 707,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 764,415. The company has a market capitalization of $43.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $292.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $286.97. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $245.01 and a 52 week high of $312.82. 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 (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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $753.00 million during 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,940,865.96. The trade was a 7.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.