Marshall Wace LLP Sells 207,918 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Marshall Wace LLP lowered its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 97.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 207,918 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VRSK. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $212,000. Norris Perne & French LLP MI raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI now owns 61,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $17,046,000 after acquiring an additional 1,126 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 68.7% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 105,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,011,000 after acquiring an additional 42,883 shares during the period. Oak Ridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 41,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,335,000 after acquiring an additional 2,089 shares during the period. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $2,957,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $4,071,832.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,922,507.70. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,837 shares of company stock worth $1,121,618 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $297.40.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $292.37 on Wednesday. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $291.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $285.04. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $306.68. The firm has a market cap of $40.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $735.60 million for 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 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.