Entropy Technologies LP Raises Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Entropy Technologies LP lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 43.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,304 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,004 shares during the quarter. Entropy Technologies LP’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $910,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 283,653 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $331,476,000 after buying an additional 78,376 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 801,150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $214,676,000 after buying an additional 8,262 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 46.7% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 614,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $164,750,000 after buying an additional 195,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.9% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 385,195 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $103,217,000 after acquiring an additional 7,098 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,066,180.70. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $286,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,669 shares of company stock worth $1,889,316 in the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lowered 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 research note on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted 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 report on Friday, November 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $294.00 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $41.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.87, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50 day moving average of $281.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $275.69. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week 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.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given 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 0.53%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend 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.