Kestra Investment Management LLC Takes $32,000 Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 117 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $32,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 188.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,454,000 after purchasing an additional 16,742 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $212,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 899.1% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,919 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,913,000 after buying an additional 10,726 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 479.1% in the third quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 16,853 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,516,000 after acquiring an additional 13,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 15.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,622,000 after acquiring an additional 4,767 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $313.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays cut shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $295.33.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $295.11 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $282.65 and its 200 day moving average is $277.27. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $296.94. The firm 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.53%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.