Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK Shares Sold by Liontrust Investment Partners LLP

Key Points

• Liontrust Investment Partners LLP reduced its stake in Verisk Analytics by 26.7%, selling 64,256 shares, resulting in ownership of approximately 0.13% of the company valued at $52.57 million.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed views on Verisk Analytics, with a consensus price target of $305.60 and ratings ranging from sell to outperform.
• Verisk Analytics reported a 7.8% revenue increase in its latest quarter with an EPS of $1.88, exceeding estimates, and also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share.

Liontrust Investment Partners LLP trimmed its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 26.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 176,618 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 64,256 shares during the period. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP owned approximately 0.13% of Verisk Analytics worth $52,565,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in VRSK. Horizon Investments LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.0% during the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 2,044 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $608,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth about $473,000. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 96.1% during the 1st quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 1,800 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $536,000 after purchasing an additional 882 shares in the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 97.8% in the first quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,977 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,184,000 after buying an additional 1,966 shares during the period. Finally, Triglav Skladi D.O.O. lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 54.8% during the first quarter. Triglav Skladi D.O.O. now owns 2,500 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $744,000 after buying an additional 885 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,100 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.01, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.00, for a total transaction of $80,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 15,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,144,620. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,620 shares of company stock valued at $7,862,427 over the last quarter. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VRSK. UBS Group cut their target price 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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. Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 target price on Verisk Analytics and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $305.60.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded up $5.32 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $271.01. The company had a trading volume of 1,014,540 shares, compared to its average volume of 903,945. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 1.53. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $259.01 and a fifty-two week high of $322.92. The firm's fifty day moving average is $294.13 and its 200-day moving average is $296.30. The company has a market cap of $37.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.83.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 460.89% and a net margin of 30.67%.The firm had revenue of $772.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $767.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics'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. On average, analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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