Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Sells 61,378 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Key Points

• Epoch Investment Partners Inc. reduced its stake in Verisk Analytics by 12.2%, now holding 441,191 shares valued at $131.31 million.
• Major institutional investors, including Nuveen LLC and Ameriprise Financial Inc., have significantly increased their positions in Verisk Analytics, demonstrating a strong interest in the company's stock.
• Verisk Analytics recently reported a 7.8% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year and a quarterly earnings per share of $1.88, exceeding analysts' expectations.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lowered its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 12.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 441,191 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 61,378 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned approximately 0.32% of Verisk Analytics worth $131,307,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 225.2% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 14,919 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,440,000 after buying an additional 10,331 shares during the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at about $237,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at about $202,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 21.9% in the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 77,807 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $23,157,000 after purchasing an additional 13,995 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 88.4% in the 1st quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 2,018 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $601,000 after purchasing an additional 947 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on VRSK. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report 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 report on Monday, August 4th. 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $305.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total value of $98,080.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 9,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,803,714.34. This represents a 3.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.10, for a total transaction of $1,723,783.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 56,701 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,036,588.10. The trade was a 8.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,620 shares of company stock worth $7,862,427 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $1.93 on Friday, hitting $268.12. The company had a trading volume of 652,634 shares, compared to its average volume of 907,115. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.31, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $287.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $294.96. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $259.01 and a 52 week high of $322.92.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a 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.