Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Verisk Analytics, acquiring an additional 377,614 shares, resulting in ownership of 1,139,913 shares valued at approximately $339.26 million.
• Research analysts have mixed views on the stock, with five giving a Buy rating and a consensus price target of $306.91, while UBS Group lowered its price target from $320 to $300.
• Verisk Analytics recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.7%, with a payout ratio of 27.73%.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 49.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,139,913 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 377,614 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 0.81% of Verisk Analytics worth $339,261,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth about $508,611,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 631.0% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,415,439 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $422,676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,221,798 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 36,332.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,204,468 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $358,474,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201,162 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 36.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,251,051 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $669,958,000 after acquiring an additional 596,225 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 52.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,141,005 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $339,586,000 after acquiring an additional 393,668 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 15,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,144,620. The trade was a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,100 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 78,907 shares of the company's stock, 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 have sold 13,965 shares of company stock valued at $3,925,916 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.8%

Verisk Analytics stock traded down $2.10 during trading on Monday, reaching $259.65. 153,142 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 908,732. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $259.01 and a 52-week high of $322.92. The company has a market capitalization of $36.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.04, a PEG ratio of 3.72 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. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $279.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $292.95.

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, topping 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 return on equity of 460.89% and a net margin of 30.67%.The firm's revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. 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. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $320.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lowered 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 increased 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $306.91.

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.