Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 257 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,705 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,224,000 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter worth approximately $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 101.5% during the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $79,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $278.93 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. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $296.58. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $281.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $274.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value 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. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,490 shares of company stock worth $1,541,570. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.11.

About Verisk Analytics

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.