Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC Has $223,000 Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 330.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 810 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 622 shares during the quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $223,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,237,700,000 after purchasing an additional 283,653 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $436,204,000 after acquiring an additional 111,364 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $331,476,000 after acquiring an additional 78,376 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,103,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $297,491,000 after acquiring an additional 85,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 801,150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $214,676,000 after purchasing an additional 8,262 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $57,298.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,471,535.92. This trade represents a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,379 shares of company stock valued at $946,141 over the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have 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 for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $273.81 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $282.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $274.68. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $296.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The company has a market capitalization of $38.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.72, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 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.