DAVENPORT & Co LLC Acquires 217 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,444 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,499,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 101.5% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $291.64 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $41.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $296.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $281.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $275.36.

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 given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $286,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 5,490 shares of company stock worth $1,541,570. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.