Sierra Ocean LLC Takes Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 162 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $45,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 16,742 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $212,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 10,726 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 13,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 4,767 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value 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. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818 in the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $293.48 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $281.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $276.27. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $296.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.44 billion, a PE ratio of 45.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.