Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Buys Shares of 5,000 Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 5,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,557,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VRSK. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth $41,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter worth $48,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth $48,000. GW&K Investment Management LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $51,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the first quarter worth $52,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $234.79 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.80 billion, a PE ratio of 36.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.53. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $253.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $283.10. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $228.09 and a 52-week high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $772.60 million during 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 was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VRSK. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $292.00 to $262.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $220.00 target price (down previously from $280.00) on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group dropped 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In related news, Director Christopher John Perry acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $259.80 per share, with a total value of $259,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 1,773 shares in the company, valued at $460,625.40. The trade was a 129.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 14,865 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,600,748.95. The trade was a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,520 shares of company stock worth $2,255,396 in the last quarter. 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.