Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Purchases 283,238 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 19.9% during the first quarter, owning a total of 1,704,246 shares valued at approximately $507.22 million.
• Verisk Analytics reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $1.88 for the latest quarter, surpassing estimates by $0.11, along with a revenue of $772.60 million.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, with an annual yield of 0.7%, set to be paid to shareholders on September 30th.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 19.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,704,246 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 283,238 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 1.22% of Verisk Analytics worth $507,219,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,188 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,153,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 83,058 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $22,880,000 after buying an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $4,363,000. MGO One Seven LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $1,439,000. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,061 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,975,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on VRSK shares. UBS Group cut their price objective 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. Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 price objective on Verisk Analytics and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $305.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.00, for a total value of $80,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 15,465 shares in the company, valued at $4,144,620. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,100 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 78,907 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,147,865.07. The trade was a 1.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,620 shares of company stock worth $7,862,427. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSK traded up $1.24 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $268.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,101,073 shares, compared to its average volume of 909,989. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.49 billion, a PE ratio of 41.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.53. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $290.02 and a 200 day moving average of $295.54. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $259.01 and a one year high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced 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 firm 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%.The company's revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.74 EPS. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. Analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.