Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Sells 1,659 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC decreased its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 42.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,262 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,659 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $673,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Louisbourg Investments Inc. bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Global Financial Private Client LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 966.7% in the first quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 128 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the first quarter worth about $48,000. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on VRSK. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $305.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total transaction of $1,630,360.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 55,913 shares in the company, valued at $16,821,985.18. The trade was a 8.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.01, for a total transaction of $294,811.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 78,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,147,865.07. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,620 shares of company stock valued at $7,862,427. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $270.85 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $37.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.73, a PEG ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50 day moving average is $292.49 and its 200 day moving average is $295.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $259.01 and a 52-week high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued 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. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 30.67% and a return on equity of 460.89%. The company had revenue of $772.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $767.91 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 27.73%.

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.