Forsta AP Fonden Has $12.45 Million Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Forsta AP Fonden cut its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 45,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 700 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $12,449,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 119,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,889,000 after purchasing an additional 9,874 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $107,000. BSW Wealth Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 1,076 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 803 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 23.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 34,149 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,406,000 after purchasing an additional 6,501 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.3 %

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $282.59 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $296.58. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $281.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $275.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The company has a market capitalization of $39.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. This trade represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value 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. The trade was a 18.89 % 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 ninety days. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on VRSK shares. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted 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 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.11.

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.