Appleton Partners Inc. MA Has $12.17 Million Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,181 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the period. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $12,169,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 29,013 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,774,000 after acquiring an additional 1,824 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.8% in the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,020 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $537,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 21.6% in the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 2,576 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $690,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 174.4% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 985 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 626 shares during the period. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,109 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,369,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $293.73 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.82, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50-day moving average of $281.34 and a 200-day moving average of $275.61. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $296.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. 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 report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.11.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. This trade represents a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,490 shares of company stock worth $1,541,570. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.