Advisors Preferred LLC Sells 543 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Advisors Preferred LLC trimmed its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 25.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 543 shares during the period. Advisors Preferred LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $426,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VRSK. Marshall Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,322,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,586 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $693,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 0.8% during the third quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,109 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,369,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $543,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $672,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $293.73 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $296.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.48 billion, a PE ratio of 45.82, a PEG ratio of 3.39 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. The business’s 50-day moving average is $281.33 and its 200 day moving average is $275.71.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 is presently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. The trade was a 1.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,490 shares of company stock valued at $1,541,570 over the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.