Raymond James Financial Inc. Decreases Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. reduced its stake in Verisk Analytics by 13.9%, selling 55,417 shares and owning 344,299 shares valued at approximately $102.47 million.
• Verisk Analytics reported earnings per share of $1.88, exceeding estimates, with a 7.8% year-over-year revenue growth of $772.60 million.
• A quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share will be paid on September 30th, representing a 0.7% yield with a payout ratio of 27.73%.

Raymond James Financial Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 13.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 344,299 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 55,417 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.25% of Verisk Analytics worth $102,470,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Redmond Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.6% during the first quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 9,268 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,758,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.6% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 485,194 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $144,404,000 after buying an additional 2,874 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 13.7% during the first quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 24,399 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $7,286,000 after buying an additional 2,945 shares during the period. Element Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth $2,778,000. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 102.5% during the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 106,845 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $31,830,000 after buying an additional 54,091 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK traded up $1.06 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $271.91. 859,378 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,260,122. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $291.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $295.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $259.01 and a 1-year high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $772.60 million for 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.74 EPS. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid 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 presently 27.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total transaction of $1,630,360.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 55,913 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,821,985.18. This represents a 8.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Christopher John Perry bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $259.80 per share, for a total transaction of $259,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 1,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $460,625.40. This represents a 129.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,620 shares of company stock worth $7,862,427. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VRSK. 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. Robert W. Baird upped 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. 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, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $305.60.

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.