VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Invests $8.57 Million in Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Key Points

• Virginia Retirement Systems ET Al invested approximately $8.57 million in Verisk Analytics, acquiring 27,500 shares in the second quarter.
• Analyst ratings for Verisk Analytics show a consensus rating of "Hold" with an average price target of $299.33, while notable assessments include a downgrade from Evercore ISI to $262.00.
• Verisk Analytics recently declared a dividend of $0.45 per share, yielding an annualized dividend of 0.8%, with a payout ratio of 27.73%.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 27,500 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $8,566,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth $41,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth $48,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth $48,000. GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 186.7% in the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 172 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter valued at about $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VRSK. Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $292.00 to $262.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reissued a "sell" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective (down previously from $280.00) on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $299.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.23, for a total transaction of $72,669.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 14,865 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,600,748.95. This represents a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher John Perry bought 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $259.80 per share, for a total transaction of $259,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 1,773 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $460,625.40. This trade represents a 129.37% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,520 shares of company stock worth $2,255,396 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of VRSK opened at $235.29 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.87 billion, a PE ratio of 36.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.85. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $228.09 and a 1 year high of $322.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 1.53. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $255.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $284.04.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 30.67% and a return on equity of 460.89%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Verisk Analytics's dividend 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.

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