Summit Trail Advisors LLC Raises Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 18.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,071 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $295,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth $50,000. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $55,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 101.5% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. The trade was a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,669 shares of company stock valued at $1,889,316 over the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $293.06 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $296.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $281.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $275.92. The company has a market capitalization of $41.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 currently 24.34%.

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.