The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Raises Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 981 shares, bringing its total ownership to 86,404 shares valued at approximately $25.7 million.
• Verisk Analytics reported a 7.8% year-over-year revenue increase and beat earnings estimates with $1.88 EPS for the last quarter.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, which will be paid on September 30th, representing an annualized dividend yield of 0.7%.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,404 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 981 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.06% of Verisk Analytics worth $25,716,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Louisbourg Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Global Financial Private Client LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 966.7% in the first quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 128 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the first quarter valued at $48,000. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 186.7% during the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 172 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,100 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.01, for a total transaction of $294,811.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 78,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,147,865.07. The trade was a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total transaction of $3,649,027.36. Following the transaction, the director owned 67,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,051,406.64. This trade represents a 14.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,621 shares of company stock valued at $7,574,943. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded up $0.26 on Friday, reaching $270.31. 1,004,964 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 910,220. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $259.01 and a 1-year high of $322.92. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $283.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $294.07. The company has a market cap of $37.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.53.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $772.60 million during 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 company's revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VRSK. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted 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. Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $320.00 price target on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $306.91.

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.