LPL Financial LLC Boosts Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 7.3% in Q1, acquiring an additional 7,929 shares, bringing their total ownership to approximately $34.5 million.
• The company reported quarterly earnings of $1.88 per share, exceeding estimates, with revenue of $772.6 million, reflecting a 7.8% increase from the previous year.
• Verisk Analytics declared a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, with an ex-dividend date of September 15th, representing an annual yield of 0.7% and a payout ratio of 27.73%.

LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 7.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 116,032 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,929 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned 0.08% of Verisk Analytics worth $34,534,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,510 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,336,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.3% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 5,177 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,541,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 181.4% in the first quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,000 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,679,000 after purchasing an additional 5,802 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 4.8% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,537,613 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $457,624,000 after buying an additional 70,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 38.9% in the first quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 54,123 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $16,106,000 after acquiring an additional 15,147 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on VRSK shares. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $304.56.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 2.4%

Verisk Analytics stock traded down $6.82 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $271.89. The stock had a trading volume of 1,544,019 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,060,289. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $305.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $297.41. 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 has a market cap of $37.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.83. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $259.22 and a one year high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 460.89% and a net margin of 30.67%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given 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 payout ratio is currently 27.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total value of $1,630,360.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 55,913 shares in the company, valued at $16,821,985.18. This represents a 8.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $2,803,714.34. This represents a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,825 shares of company stock valued at $8,947,730. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.