Candriam S.C.A. Grows Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Key Points

• Candriam S.C.A. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 154.2% during the 1st quarter, now holding 39,676 shares valued at approximately $11.8 million.
• Wall Street analysts project growth for Verisk Analytics, with target prices ranging from $300 to $335, and a consensus rating of "Hold."
• Verisk Analytics recently declared a $0.45 quarterly dividend, with an annual yield of 0.7%, set to be paid on September 30th.

Candriam S.C.A. boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 154.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 39,676 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 24,066 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.'s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $11,808,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,733,589 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,980,251,000 after purchasing an additional 239,483 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 36.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,251,051 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $669,958,000 after acquiring an additional 596,225 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at approximately $508,611,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.1% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,674,516 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $498,369,000 after acquiring an additional 34,797 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,537,613 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $457,624,000 after purchasing an additional 70,571 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ VRSK traded up $1.21 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $268.28. The stock had a trading volume of 502,936 shares, compared to its average volume of 905,182. The company has a market capitalization of $37.48 billion, a PE ratio of 41.34, a PEG ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.83. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $259.01 and a twelve month 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $290.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $295.54.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $772.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $767.91 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 30.67% and a return on equity of 460.89%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 price objective on Verisk Analytics and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $305.60.

Insider Activity

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total transaction of $3,649,027.36. Following the sale, the director owned 67,244 shares in the company, valued at $21,051,406.64. This represents a 14.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total value of $98,080.36. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,803,714.34. This represents a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,620 shares of company stock worth $7,862,427 over the last three months. Company 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.