AXS Investments LLC Trims Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Key Points

• AXS Investments LLC has reduced its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 32.6%, now owning 4,451 shares valued at approximately $1.33 million.
• Market analysts have set a consensus price target of $305.60 for Verisk Analytics, with ratings ranging from "underperform" to "outperform."
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 0.7%.

AXS Investments LLC lessened its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 32.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,451 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,155 shares during the quarter. AXS Investments LLC's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,325,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,733,589 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,980,251,000 after purchasing an additional 239,483 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 101.2% during the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 54,104 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $16,102,000 after buying an additional 27,212 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 46.5% during the first quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 318 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 18.2% during the first quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 3,821 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,137,000 after buying an additional 588 shares during the period. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.6% during the first quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 239,143 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $71,174,000 after buying an additional 6,139 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total value of $3,649,027.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 67,244 shares in the company, valued at $21,051,406.64. The trade was a 14.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total transaction of $98,080.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 9,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,803,714.34. The trade was a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,120 shares of company stock worth $7,192,416. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $305.60.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of VRSK traded up $0.52 on Friday, reaching $265.04. The stock had a trading volume of 830,089 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,138,175. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 1.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $300.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $296.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $260.17 and a 12-month high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $772.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $767.91 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 460.89% and a net margin of 30.67%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. 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 presently 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.