Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK Stock Position Cut by Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC

Key Points

• Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC reduced its stake in Verisk Analytics by 2.0%, bringing its holdings to 158,935 shares, which is about 3.6% of its total portfolio.
• Several brokerages have set varying price targets for Verisk Analytics, with Raymond James setting a target at $315.00 and UBS Group lowering theirs to $300.00, reflecting mixed analyst sentiments.
• Verisk Analytics recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, which equates to an annual yield of 0.7%, highlighting its commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC cut its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 158,935 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 3,274 shares during the quarter. Verisk Analytics comprises about 3.6% of Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC's holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC owned about 0.11% of Verisk Analytics worth $49,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,733,589 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,980,251,000 after buying an additional 239,483 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,235,090 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,558,067,000 after purchasing an additional 25,010 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 36.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,251,051 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $669,958,000 after purchasing an additional 596,225 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the first quarter valued at approximately $508,611,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 19.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,704,246 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $507,219,000 after purchasing an additional 283,238 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on VRSK. Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 price objective on Verisk Analytics and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $320.00 price objective on the stock. 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $340.00 to $334.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $311.00.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.8%

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $249.55 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $34.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.45, a PEG ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34. The company's 50 day moving average price is $264.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $288.70. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $239.83 and a 52 week high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $772.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $767.91 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 460.89% and a net margin of 30.67%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $21,147,865.07. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.72, for a total transaction of $76,416.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 15,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,862,828.80. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,520 shares of company stock worth $2,273,891 over the last quarter. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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