D.A. Davidson & CO. Cuts Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

D.A. Davidson & CO. decreased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,196 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 257 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,982,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 188.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,454,000 after buying an additional 16,742 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $212,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 899.1% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,919 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,913,000 after buying an additional 10,726 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 479.1% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 16,853 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,516,000 after buying an additional 13,943 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,622,000 after buying an additional 4,767 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.8 %

VRSK stock opened at $295.11 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $282.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $277.27. 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 fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $296.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.04, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VRSK. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $313.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised 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. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $295.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’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 value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,264,818. 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.