Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Grows Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 897 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $247,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter worth about $50,000. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $55,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 101.5% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. 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 note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. 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 note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, 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 note on Thursday, October 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $293.06 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one 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 firm has a market cap of $41.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.72, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $281.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $275.92.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $57,298.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. This trade represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the 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 owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,669 shares of company stock valued at $1,889,316 in the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.