Howard Capital Management Group LLC Invests $189,000 in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Howard Capital Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 688 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $189,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter worth $50,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 101.5% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 276 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter worth $79,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.11.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.5 %

VRSK opened at $280.06 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $282.06 and its 200-day moving average is $274.84. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $296.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

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

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 issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,471,535.92. This trade represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible 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 transaction of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 5,490 shares of company stock worth $1,541,570. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.