Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stock Position Lifted by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 90.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,379 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 21,554 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $12,499,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 101.5% during 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. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter valued at $79,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays cut 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. Morgan Stanley raised 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated 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 assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.11.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, 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 transaction of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,490 shares of company stock worth $1,541,570 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $277.98 on Friday. 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 current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $39.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a 50-day moving average of $281.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $274.91.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

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.