Ethic Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. reduced its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.4% in the second quarter, selling a total of 1,559 shares and now holding 22,840 shares valued at approximately $7,050,000.
• Institutional investors remain heavily invested in Verisk Analytics, with 90% of the stock owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors, showing significant activity including a 631% increase in holdings by Ameriprise Financial.
• Analyst ratings on Verisk Analytics vary, with a mixture of opinions resulting in an average target price of $299.33 and a general rating of "Hold" from equity analysts.

Ethic Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,840 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,559 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $7,050,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter valued at about $508,611,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position 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 valued at $422,676,000 after buying an additional 1,221,798 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position 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 valued at $669,958,000 after buying an additional 596,225 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 35.6% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,653,727 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $492,182,000 after buying an additional 434,053 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position 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 valued at $339,586,000 after buying an additional 393,668 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,420 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total transaction of $1,436,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 54,337 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,399,305. This trade represents a 9.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Christopher John Perry bought 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $259.80 per share, with a total value of $259,800.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 1,773 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $460,625.40. This represents a 129.37% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,520 shares of company stock worth $2,255,396 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn reaffirmed a "sell" rating and set a $220.00 price objective (down from $280.00) on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK stock opened at $237.47 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $228.09 and a 1 year high of $322.92. The company has a market cap of $33.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.59, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $254.60 and a 200 day moving average of $283.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.53.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $767.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.74 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics's 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. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding VRSK? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.