Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK Shares Purchased by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.

Key Points

• Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. has increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 20.7%, now holding 12,328 shares valued at approximately $3.67 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Groupama Asset Management and Hsbc Holdings PLC, have also increased their positions in Verisk Analytics, contributing to institutional ownership now at 90% of the company’s stock.
• Verisk Analytics recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, translating to an annual dividend yield of 0.7%, with the dividend payout ratio currently at 27.73%.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 20.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,328 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,116 shares during the quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.'s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,674,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,733,589 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,980,251,000 after acquiring an additional 239,483 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 36.0% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,251,051 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $669,958,000 after acquiring an additional 596,225 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter valued at $508,611,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,674,516 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $498,369,000 after acquiring an additional 34,797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,537,613 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $457,624,000 after acquiring an additional 70,571 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on VRSK shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $305.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total value of $1,630,360.34. Following the sale, the insider owned 55,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,821,985.18. This represents a 8.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Christopher John Perry bought 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $259.80 per share, for a total transaction of $259,800.00. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,620 shares of company stock worth $7,862,427. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock traded down $0.85 during trading on Friday, reaching $271.06. The company had a trading volume of 830,215 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,249,815. The company has a market cap of $37.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.83. The firm's fifty day moving average is $290.86 and its 200-day moving average is $295.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 1.53. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $259.01 and a fifty-two week high of $322.92.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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