RFG Advisory LLC Sells 43 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

RFG Advisory LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,959 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 43 shares during the quarter. RFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $540,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,237,700,000 after buying an additional 283,653 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2,380.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 272,965 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $73,144,000 after acquiring an additional 261,961 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 46.7% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 614,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $164,750,000 after acquiring an additional 195,700 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its position in Verisk Analytics by 158.2% during the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 184,806 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $49,521,000 after purchasing an additional 113,230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth $21,263,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $57,298.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,490 shares of company stock valued at $1,541,570. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of 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 raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays downgraded 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 report on Friday, January 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of VRSK opened at $285.46 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $281.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $274.95. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $296.58. The company has a market capitalization of $40.31 billion, a PE ratio of 44.53, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.88. 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 (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The business had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued 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 yield of 0.55%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 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.