Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Reduces Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS trimmed its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 81,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 575 shares during the quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $22,437,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $293.48 on Tuesday. 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 has a market capitalization of $41.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $296.94. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $281.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $276.27.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders 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 payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total transaction of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on VRSK. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley upped 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 downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.11.

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.