Man Group plc Sells 59,896 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Man Group plc cut its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 46.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 70,071 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 59,896 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $19,300,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.86, for a total transaction of $337,028.94. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,940,865.96. This represents a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,363 shares of company stock worth $2,529,187. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America began coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $302.40.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK traded down $1.25 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $313.10. 508,270 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 769,402. The company has a market cap of $43.80 billion, a PE ratio of 48.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $245.01 and a twelve month high of $314.65. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $293.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $288.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

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

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 26.35%.

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.