Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Reduces Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV cut its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,596 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,257 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,745,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,940,865.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 5,705 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,187 in the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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 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. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $298.90.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.5 %

VRSK traded up $1.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $309.50. 707,168 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 764,149. The firm's fifty day moving average is $292.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $286.39. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $244.99 and a 1-year high of $312.82. The company has a market cap of $43.31 billion, a PE ratio of 48.28, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in 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 generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.