Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stake Increased by Community Financial Services Group LLC

Community Financial Services Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,979 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 174.4% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 985 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 626 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 4.0% during the third quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 1,543 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 2.0% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 17,343 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,647,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,387 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $373,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Finally, Hengehold Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 1,358 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $364,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.1 %

VRSK stock opened at $294.30 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50-day moving average of $281.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $275.81. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $296.58. 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 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 issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $286,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. The trade was a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,669 shares of company stock valued at $1,889,316 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.