Natixis Has $9.58 Million Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Natixis increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 121.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,777 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 19,070 shares during the period. Natixis' holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $9,579,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,435,012,000 after acquiring an additional 392,270 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted 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 valued at $1,292,047,000 after purchasing an additional 72,045 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,051,300,000 after purchasing an additional 19,423 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in 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. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.8 %

VRSK traded down $2.19 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $286.05. 1,016,011 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 773,908. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.63, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $291.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $284.68. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $306.68.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a share repurchase 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 buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price 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 cut Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $297.40.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $4,071,832.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 3,837 shares of company stock valued at $1,121,618. 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.