WASHINGTON TRUST Co Decreases Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co cut its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 76,942 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,057 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $21,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,000. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $55,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its position 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 worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,469 shares of company stock worth $1,545,528 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on VRSK shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Six research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $293.48 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.44 billion, a PE ratio of 45.78, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.34 and a twelve month high of $296.94. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $281.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $276.17.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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