Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Sold by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. lessened its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 482,320 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 9,560 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $132,846,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,258 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $605,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Commerce Bank increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 10,141 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,717,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $845,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 111.5% during the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 24,681 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,614,000 after purchasing an additional 13,010 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

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 Friday, March 7th. The stock was 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 represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. 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 report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK stock opened at $285.16 on Monday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.10. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $289.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $280.81. The firm has a market cap of $40.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.49, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase 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 buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.87%.

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.