Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Acquires 1,158 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 39,857 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,158 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $10,978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VRSK. FMR LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 283,653 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2,380.6% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 272,965 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $73,144,000 after buying an additional 261,961 shares during the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 29,469.0% during the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 233,004 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $64,176,000 after buying an additional 232,216 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 46.7% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 614,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $164,750,000 after purchasing an additional 195,700 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 158.2% during the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 184,806 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $49,521,000 after purchasing an additional 113,230 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $313.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Barclays cut 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 report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $295.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.9 %

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $299.72 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.32 billion, a PE ratio of 46.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $300.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The company has a 50 day moving average of $283.36 and a 200-day moving average of $277.87.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Verisk Analytics 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.