Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Increases Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,679 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $738,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth about $50,000. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $55,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 101.5% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on VRSK. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’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 sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,545,528. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $293.48 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $296.94. The stock has a market cap of $41.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $281.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $276.17.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

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.