Cetera Investment Advisers Lowers Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Cetera Investment Advisers reduced its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 70,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,869 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $22,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 13.8% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,452 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,027,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 56.4% in the first quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 4,190 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,247,000 after buying an additional 1,511 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 15.4% during the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 353 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 3.4% during the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 10,915 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,248,000 after buying an additional 361 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 66.8% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $222.96 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.55. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $235.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $273.96. The firm has a market cap of $31.07 billion, a PE ratio of 33.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.84. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.99 and a 12-month high of $322.92.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 27.44%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gregory Hendrick bought 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The stock was bought at an average price of $216.14 per share, for a total transaction of $108,070.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,536 shares in the company, valued at $548,131.04. The trade was a 24.56% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total transaction of $65,097.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 14,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,160,459.35. This represents a 2.02% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 1,450 shares of company stock valued at $314,663 and have sold 7,420 shares valued at $1,889,171. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $314.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $262.00 to $250.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 target price on the stock. Rothschild Redb cut Verisk Analytics from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $282.14.

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.