Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC Makes New $28,000 Investment in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 100 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $28,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Choreo LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,211,000. AGF Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 23.7% during the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 11,480 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 525,364 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $141,612,000 after purchasing an additional 92,855 shares during the period. BOKF NA raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 106.3% during the 2nd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 12,074 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,255,000 after purchasing an additional 6,222 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 38.4% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,398 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $916,000 after purchasing an additional 942 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target 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. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price 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, Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday. Six equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $268.63 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $282.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $274.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $37.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.91, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.88. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $296.58.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total value of $54,266.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. This represents a 1.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,579 shares of company stock valued at $1,000,407. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.