D.A. Davidson & CO. Sells 257 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

D.A. Davidson & CO. decreased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,196 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 257 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,982,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,618,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,237,700,000 after purchasing an additional 283,653 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 6.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,231,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $331,476,000 after purchasing an additional 78,376 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 801,150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $214,676,000 after purchasing an additional 8,262 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position 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 last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 332,650 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $91,622,000 after purchasing an additional 1,308 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of VRSK opened at $295.11 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $41.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.04, a P/E/G 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 $296.94. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $282.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $277.27. 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 Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets increased 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 report on Friday, November 1st. 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 report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $313.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 shares were 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $4,066,180.70. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.