Vanguard Group Inc. Has $4.98 Billion Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.5%, owning approximately 11.96% of the company after acquiring 239,483 shares, valued at nearly $4.98 billion.
• The company reported a Q2 earnings per share (EPS) of $1.88, surpassing analysts' expectations and reflecting a 7.8% year-over-year revenue growth of $772.60 million.
• Verisk Analytics declared a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.7%, set to be paid on September 30th to shareholders of record on September 15th.

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 1.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,733,589 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 239,483 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 11.96% of Verisk Analytics worth $4,980,251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Louisbourg Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Global Financial Private Client LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 966.7% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 186.7% during the 1st 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 owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total value of $98,080.36. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,803,714.34. The trade was a 3.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.10, for a total value of $1,723,783.90. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 56,701 shares in the company, valued at $18,036,588.10. The trade was a 8.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,120 shares of company stock valued at $7,192,416. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group lowered 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on 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, Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 price target on Verisk Analytics and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $305.60.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock traded up $0.52 during trading on Friday, reaching $265.04. The company had a trading volume of 830,089 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,138,175. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $300.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $296.94. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $260.17 and a one year high of $322.92. The company has a market capitalization of $37.03 billion, a PE ratio of 40.84, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.83.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $767.91 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.74 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is currently 27.73%.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.