Thrive Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Thrive Wealth Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,522 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 61 shares during the period. Thrive Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $970,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth about $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the third quarter valued at about $50,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $79,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $278.55 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $39.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $296.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a 50-day moving average of $282.19 and a 200-day moving average of $274.79.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced 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. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The company had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total transaction of $280,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics 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 sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,379 shares of company stock worth $946,141. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.11.

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.