First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Buys Shares of 51,563 Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Key Points

• First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired 51,563 shares of Verisk Analytics, valued at approximately $16 million, indicating increased institutional interest in the company.
• Analysts have mixed reviews on Verisk Analytics, with ratings ranging from a "strong buy" to a "strong sell", and an average price target of $299.33.
• Insider activity shows the CEO and CFO of Verisk Analytics sold shares recently, with the CEO's sale resulting in a 1.37% decrease in their ownership position, highlighting potential concerns among executives.

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 51,563 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $16,062,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VRSK. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in 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 in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 9,017 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,809,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 341 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $106,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in the second quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC now owns 3,231 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,006,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 10.2% during the first 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on VRSK. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Verisk Analytics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. 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. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $320.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Rothschild Redb lowered Verisk Analytics from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.01, for a total value of $294,811.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 78,907 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,147,865.07. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.23, for a total value of $72,669.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 14,865 shares in the company, valued at $3,600,748.95. This represents a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,520 shares of company stock valued at $2,255,396. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $237.47 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.18 billion, a PE ratio of 36.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.85. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $228.09 and a 52 week 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 stock's 50-day moving average price is $254.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $283.40.

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 company had revenue of $772.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $767.91 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 460.89% and a net margin of 30.67%.Verisk Analytics's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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