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

Community Financial Services Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,979 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Community Financial Services Group LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. 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 purchasing an additional 626 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.0% in the third quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 1,543 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $413,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.0% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 17,343 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,647,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 11.0% in the third quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,387 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hengehold Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 1,358 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VRSK. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays downgraded 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 lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. This trade 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 this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,066,180.70. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 6,669 shares of company stock worth $1,889,316. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $294.30 on Wednesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $296.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $281.36 and a 200-day moving average of $275.81.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors 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 24.34%.

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.