Caxton Associates LLP Purchases New Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Key Points

• Caxton Associates LLP has acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc., purchasing 10,037 shares valued at approximately $2,987,000 in the first quarter.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Nuveen LLC and Ameriprise Financial Inc., have also significantly increased their stakes, reflecting strong institutional interest in VRSK.
• Verisk Analytics recently reported quarterly earnings of $1.88 per share, beating estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.7%.

Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 10,037 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,987,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth $508,611,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 631.0% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,415,439 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $422,676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,221,798 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 36,332.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,204,468 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $358,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201,162 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 36.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,251,051 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $669,958,000 after purchasing an additional 596,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 52.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,141,005 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $339,586,000 after purchasing an additional 393,668 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.01, for a total value of $294,811.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 78,907 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,147,865.07. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total transaction of $98,080.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,803,714.34. The trade was a 3.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 25,621 shares of company stock worth $7,574,943. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $270.31 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $37.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.65, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.86. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $259.01 and a twelve month high of $322.92. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $283.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $293.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34.

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 return on equity of 460.89% and a net margin of 30.67%.The business had revenue of $772.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $767.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on VRSK shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $320.00 price target for the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 price target on Verisk Analytics and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $306.91.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.

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