Northstar Asset Management Inc. Buys Shares of 7,717 Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Key Points

• Northstar Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics, purchasing 7,717 shares valued at approximately $2.3 million.
• Verisk Analytics reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $1.88 for its last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $1.77, alongside a 7.8% year-over-year revenue growth.
• The firm declared a quarterly dividend of $0.45, with a yield of 0.7%, which will be paid on September 30th to investors of record on September 15th.

Northstar Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 7,717 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,297,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Louisbourg Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Global Financial Private Client LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 966.7% in the 1st quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 128 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.10, for a total transaction of $1,723,783.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 56,701 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,036,588.10. This represents a 8.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.01, for a total value of $294,811.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 78,907 shares in the company, valued at $21,147,865.07. The trade was a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,620 shares of company stock valued at $7,862,427 over the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 price target on Verisk Analytics and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $305.60.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.1%

NASDAQ VRSK traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $270.85. 1,368,566 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 909,350. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $259.01 and a 12 month high of $322.92. 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 $37.84 billion, a PE ratio of 41.73, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50 day moving average of $293.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $296.12.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $772.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $767.91 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 30.67% and a return on equity of 460.89%. The firm's revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. 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 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be given 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 of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Verisk Analytics's dividend 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.