Howard Capital Management Inc. Acquires 111 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,262 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 111 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,174,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $295.11 on Monday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $296.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.67 billion, a PE ratio of 46.04, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $282.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $277.39.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 sale, the insider now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. The trade was a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 transaction of $347,746.05. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,066,180.70. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818 over the last quarter. Corporate 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.