Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP cut its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 46.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 83,170 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 73,173 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.06% of Verisk Analytics worth $22,907,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,665 shares in the company, valued at $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77 % 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, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total transaction of $348,229.44. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,071,832.96. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,837 shares of company stock valued at $1,121,618 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. 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 note on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating 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 given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $297.40.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK traded down $1.11 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $295.32. The stock had a trading volume of 248,678 shares, compared to its average volume of 767,914. The business has a fifty day moving average of $291.61 and a 200 day moving average of $285.12. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $222.61 and a 1 year high of $306.68. The company has a market cap of $41.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.87%.

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.