Ballentine Partners LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,068 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,222,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth about $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth about $50,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 101.5% during the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth about $79,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $280.06 on Wednesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $296.58. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $282.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $274.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.55 billion, a PE ratio of 43.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The business had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 5,490 shares of company stock valued at $1,541,570. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.