Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd

JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd decreased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 114,091 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 5,697 shares during the period. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd owned 0.08% of Verisk Analytics worth $31,424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.68, for a total transaction of $1,755,314.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,980,456.16. The trade was a 30.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $88,614.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187 over the last quarter. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VRSK. 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 report on Thursday, February 27th. 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. UBS Group raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America assumed 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, Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of VRSK traded up $6.09 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $307.36. 680,938 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 769,265. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $292.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $287.44. The company has a market cap of $42.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $245.01 and a 1-year high of $313.83. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data 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. 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.35%.

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.