Natural Investments LLC Sells 1,168 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Key Points

• Natural Investments LLC reduced its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. by 12.1%, selling 1,168 shares and holding a total of 8,454 shares worth approximately $2.63 million at the end of the second quarter.
• Analysts have generally maintained positive outlooks on Verisk Analytics, with one upgrading the stock to a "strong-buy" rating, while target prices have been adjusted downward by others.
• Verisk Analytics recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, yielding 0.7%, and reported a strong earnings performance, beating consensus estimates with $1.88 EPS for the last quarter.

Natural Investments LLC reduced its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 12.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,454 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,168 shares during the quarter. Natural Investments LLC's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Louisbourg Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at $41,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter valued at $48,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at $48,000. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 186.7% in the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 172 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on VRSK shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $340.00 to $334.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $320.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Verisk Analytics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $311.00.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.72, for a total value of $76,416.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 15,165 shares in the company, valued at $3,862,828.80. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,100 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.01, for a total value of $294,811.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 78,907 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,147,865.07. The trade was a 1.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,520 shares of company stock worth $2,273,891. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $243.06 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $33.96 billion, a PE ratio of 37.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.85. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $258.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $286.63. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $239.83 and a 12-month high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $772.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $767.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.74 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. As a group, analysts expect 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 was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.73%.

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.

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