Index Fund Advisors Inc. Takes $205,000 Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Index Fund Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 744 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $55,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $294.00 on Tuesday. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $296.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.52 billion, a PE ratio of 45.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $281.33 and its 200-day moving average is $275.69.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. 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 research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $293.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total transaction of $347,746.05. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,669 shares of company stock valued at $1,889,316. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.