Brooklyn Investment Group Acquires 84 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 822 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $226,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VRSK. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth about $50,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 101.5% during the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $79,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 54,163 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,379 shares of company stock worth $946,141. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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 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. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $278.55 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $296.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $282.19 and a 200-day moving average of $274.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

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.