Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Buys 41,000 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Key Points

• Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 38% in Q1, acquiring 41,000 additional shares, bringing its total to 148,900 shares worth approximately $44.3 million.
• Verisk Analytics reported $1.88 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, with revenue growth of 7.8% year-over-year reaching $772.6 million.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, translating to a 0.7% annualized yield, to be paid on September 30th.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 38.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 148,900 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 41,000 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned approximately 0.11% of Verisk Analytics worth $44,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 29.0% in the first quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 16,507 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,913,000 after purchasing an additional 3,715 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.9% in the first quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,120 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. MAI Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.5% in the first quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 31,086 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $9,252,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter worth $204,000. Finally, Stony Point Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter worth $3,782,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 1.7%

VRSK stock traded down $4.58 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $268.45. 258,180 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 908,256. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 1.53. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $259.01 and a one year high of $322.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.51 billion, a PE ratio of 41.37, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $282.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $293.75.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 30.67% and a return on equity of 460.89%. The business had revenue of $772.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $767.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 27.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $320.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $306.91.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,420 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total transaction of $1,436,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 54,337 shares in the company, valued at $14,399,305. The trade was a 9.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total transaction of $3,649,027.36. Following the transaction, the director owned 67,244 shares in the company, valued at $21,051,406.64. This trade represents a 14.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 25,621 shares of company stock valued at $7,574,943. Insiders own 0.46% 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.