AQR Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 5.1%, resulting in approximately 174,597 shares owned, valued at around $51.96 million.
• Several institutional investors have modified their positions, with notable increases, such as Global Financial Private Client LLC raising their holdings by 966.7% in the first quarter.
• Verisk Analytics recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, translating to an annual yield of 0.7%, with an ex-dividend date of September 15th.

AQR Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 5.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 174,597 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 9,380 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.12% of Verisk Analytics worth $51,964,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 38.0% during the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 148,900 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $44,316,000 after purchasing an additional 41,000 shares in the last quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 29.0% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings 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 valued at $631,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. MAI Capital Management grew its holdings 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 valued at $9,252,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at approximately $204,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reduced their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 target price on Verisk Analytics and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $320.00 target price for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $306.91.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,420 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total transaction of $1,436,300.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 54,337 shares in the company, valued at $14,399,305. This represents 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, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.00, for a total value of $80,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 15,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,144,620. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,621 shares of company stock valued at $7,574,943. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Verisk Analytics stock traded down $4.37 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $268.66. The stock had a trading volume of 902,688 shares, compared to its average volume of 975,781. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $259.01 and a 1 year high of $322.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34. The stock's 50 day moving average is $281.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $293.58. The stock has a market cap of $37.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.86.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.73%.

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.