Griffin Asset Management Inc. Has $3.54 Million Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,538,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the third quarter valued at $50,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 101.5% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth approximately $79,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $286,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,517,157.87. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,471,535.92. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,490 shares of company stock valued at $1,541,570 over the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on VRSK shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Six investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 2.3 %

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $285.46 on Tuesday. 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 $296.58. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $281.49 and its 200 day moving average is $274.95. The stock has a market cap of $40.31 billion, a PE ratio of 44.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.88.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $725.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Verisk Analytics’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.