Fiera Capital Corp Acquires 15,284 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Fiera Capital Corp boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 34.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 59,175 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,284 shares during the quarter. Fiera Capital Corp’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $18,433,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 69.0% during the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 98 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake 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 during the period. SouthState Corp increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 88.1% during the second quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 111 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at $41,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $217.68 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $239.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $275.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.55, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 1.19. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $196.99 and a one year high of $322.92. The firm has a market cap of $30.34 billion, a PE ratio of 33.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.84.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.44%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sabra R. Purtill acquired 450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $217.95 per share, for a total transaction of $98,077.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 1,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $289,219.65. The trade was a 51.31% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.01, for a total transaction of $294,811.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 78,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,147,865.07. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 1,450 shares of company stock valued at $314,663 and have sold 7,120 shares valued at $1,880,196. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on VRSK. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Rothschild & Co Redburn reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective (down previously from $280.00) on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 target price on Verisk Analytics and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on Verisk Analytics from $314.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $282.14.

Verisk Analytics Profile

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.