Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK Shares Acquired by Baird Financial Group Inc.

Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 4.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,727 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,527 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $27,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 69.0% in the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 98 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 62.7% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 109 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at $34,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Jeffrey J. Dailey bought 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $217.03 per share, with a total value of $108,515.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 3,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $859,872.86. This trade represents a 14.44% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregory Hendrick bought 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were bought at an average price of $216.14 per share, for a total transaction of $108,070.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 2,536 shares in the company, valued at approximately $548,131.04. The trade was a 24.56% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders bought 1,450 shares of company stock valued at $314,663 and sold 2,000 shares valued at $452,871. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Rothschild Redb downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Verisk Analytics from $262.00 to $250.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Verisk Analytics from $334.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $314.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $282.14.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $221.24 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $30.83 billion, a PE ratio of 33.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $228.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $267.00. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.99 and a 1-year high of $322.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.55, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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

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.