Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Decreases Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund trimmed its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,557 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $7,590,000 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 boosted its position 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 valued at $1,237,700,000 after buying an additional 283,653 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 2,380.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 272,965 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $73,144,000 after acquiring an additional 261,961 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 29,469.0% during the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 233,004 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $64,176,000 after acquiring an additional 232,216 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 46.7% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 614,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $164,750,000 after acquiring an additional 195,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 158.2% in the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 184,806 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $49,521,000 after acquiring an additional 113,230 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. This trade 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818 over the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $297.01 on Tuesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $298.71. 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 market capitalization of $41.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $282.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $277.62.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. 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 payout ratio is 24.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. 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. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $295.33.

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.