ING Groep NV Grows Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

ING Groep NV grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 35.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 66,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,395 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $18,285,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VRSK. Flossbach Von Storch SE raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 285,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $78,648,000 after acquiring an additional 14,238 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 86,855 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $23,922,000 after acquiring an additional 5,822 shares in the last quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 17,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,683,000 after acquiring an additional 1,458 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 29,469.0% in the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 233,004 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $64,176,000 after acquiring an additional 232,216 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $292.70 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $282.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $276.93. 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 $296.94. The company has a market cap of $41.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 value of $321,642.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,264,818. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.