Kentucky Retirement Systems Decreases Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Kentucky Retirement Systems trimmed its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,787 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 135 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,696,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 167,046 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $46,010,000 after buying an additional 2,935 shares during the period. ING Groep NV raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 35.5% during the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 66,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,285,000 after buying an additional 17,395 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch SE raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 285,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $78,648,000 after buying an additional 14,238 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 86,855 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $23,922,000 after buying an additional 5,822 shares during the period. Finally, Callahan Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 17,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,683,000 after buying an additional 1,458 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on VRSK. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $313.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $295.33.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK opened at $295.11 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $296.94. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $282.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $277.27. The company has a market capitalization of $41.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.04, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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