Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,123,255 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 14,854 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $309,378,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of 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 upped their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $293.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 stock in a transaction 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 owns 9,066 shares in the company, 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $293.48 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick 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 $296.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.78, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $281.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $276.17.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid 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 payout ratio 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.