9,335 Shares in Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK Bought by Element Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Element Capital Management has acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics, purchasing 9,335 shares valued at approximately $2.78 million, making it the 28th largest position in their portfolio.
• Several hedge funds are increasing their stakes in Verisk Analytics, with 90% of the stock owned by institutional investors.
• Verisk Analytics recently reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share to be paid on September 30th.

Element Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 9,335 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,778,000. Verisk Analytics makes up approximately 0.7% of Element Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of VRSK. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the first quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 3,175 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% in the first quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,208 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 389 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $116,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 3.3% during the first quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 1,177 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $350,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.0% during the first quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 3,993 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,170,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group dropped 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 note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $305.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Christopher John Perry bought 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $259.80 per share, for a total transaction of $259,800.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,773 shares of the company's stock, valued at $460,625.40. This represents a 129.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,100 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.01, for a total transaction of $294,811.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 78,907 shares in the company, valued at $21,147,865.07. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,620 shares of company stock worth $7,862,427. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 2.0%

NASDAQ VRSK traded up $5.32 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $271.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,014,540 shares, compared to its average volume of 903,945. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $294.13 and a 200 day moving average of $296.30. 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 market capitalization of $37.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.76, a PEG ratio of 3.79 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.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 30.67% and a return on equity of 460.89%. The company had revenue of $772.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $767.91 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter 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 forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.45 dividend. 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 (DPR) is 27.73%.

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.