Index Fund Advisors Inc. Takes Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Index Fund Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 744 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $55,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 101.5% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.1 %

VRSK opened at $294.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $41.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.87, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $281.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $275.69. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $296.58.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, 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 transaction of $57,298.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,471,535.92. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,669 shares of company stock valued at $1,889,316. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.