Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC Trims Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 44.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 765 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 622 shares during the period. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $211,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth $50,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 101.5% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth $79,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VRSK. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. 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 research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $285.46 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $40.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $281.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $274.95. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $296.58.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 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 net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at $4,471,535.92. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,490 shares of company stock worth $1,541,570 over the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.