Griffin Asset Management Inc. Has $3.54 Million Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. cut its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 12,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in 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 position in Verisk Analytics in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth $79,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $286,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,517,157.87. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,490 shares of company stock valued at $1,541,570 in the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $285.46 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $40.31 billion, a PE ratio of 44.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $281.49 and a 200-day moving average of $274.95. 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 current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 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.