Weil Company Inc. Boosts Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Weil Company Inc. raised its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,128 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 211 shares during the quarter. Verisk Analytics comprises 1.0% of Weil Company Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Weil Company Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total transaction of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 4,469 shares of company stock worth $1,264,818. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a 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 research note on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $313.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $295.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $299.72 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.76, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $217.34 and a one year high of $300.50. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $283.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $277.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

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.