Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 6,025 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Wellington Management Group LLP cut its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 184,262 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 6,025 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned approximately 0.13% of Verisk Analytics worth $50,751,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 953,753 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $262,692,000 after acquiring an additional 34,826 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $11,964,000. Allstate Corp bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,159,000. Maridea Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $299,000. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 2,407 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $663,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. 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 accessible through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. 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 note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 6.6 %

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $284.99 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $292.64 and a 200-day moving average of $282.37. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $306.68. The stock has a market cap of $39.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has approved a share buyback 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

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

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.