Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 5,326 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 90,690 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,326 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned 0.06% of Verisk Analytics worth $28,250,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VRSK. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 13.8% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,452 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,027,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 353 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 66.8% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 33,082 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,846,000 after acquiring an additional 13,248 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 6.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 73,840 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,976,000 after purchasing an additional 4,247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 63.6% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 55,868 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,627,000 after purchasing an additional 21,719 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price objective on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn raised Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $315.00 to $250.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Rothschild Redb cut Verisk Analytics from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $282.14.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $223.16 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $233.51 and a 200 day moving average of $272.76. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $196.99 and a 12 month high of $322.92. The firm has a market cap of $31.10 billion, a PE ratio of 34.02, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.55.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $768.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $776.04 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 425.42% and a net margin of 30.42%.The company’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.67 EPS. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Sabra R. Purtill purchased 450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $217.95 per share, with a total value of $98,077.50. Following the acquisition, the director owned 1,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $289,219.65. The trade was a 51.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,420 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total value of $1,436,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 54,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,399,305. This represents a 9.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 1,450 shares of company stock worth $314,663 and sold 7,420 shares worth $1,889,171. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

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.