Squarepoint Ops LLC Trims Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Squarepoint Ops LLC cut its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 10.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 506,540 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 59,695 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC owned about 0.36% of Verisk Analytics worth $113,308,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 2.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,241,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,336,366,000 after acquiring an additional 346,525 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,076,730 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,359,304,000 after acquiring an additional 88,300 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,354,082 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,346,605,000 after acquiring an additional 158,791 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,121,219 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $923,576,000 after acquiring an additional 36,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,914,224 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $875,574,000 after acquiring an additional 362,050 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on VRSK. Capital One Financial set a $224.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $223.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Verisk Analytics from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $215.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Verisk Analytics from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $237.20.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $180.46 on Tuesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $155.94 and a 52 week high of $314.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.47, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.69. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $196.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.42.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.06. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 29.34% and a negative return on equity of 2,405.75%. The business had revenue of $782.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $771.62 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.73 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.450-7.750 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.44%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 18th that permits the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to buy up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 6,765 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.63, for a total value of $1,201,666.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 69,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,273,877.74. This trade represents a 8.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.22, for a total transaction of $63,688.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 19,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,118,164.48. This trade represents a 2.00% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 16,907 shares of company stock valued at $2,994,338 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

About Verisk Analytics

Verisk Analytics, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSK) is a data analytics and decision?support provider that helps organizations assess and manage risk. The company supplies data, predictive models and software to customers in insurance, reinsurance, financial services, government, energy and other commercial markets. Its offerings are designed to support underwriting, pricing, claims management, catastrophe modeling, fraud detection and regulatory compliance, enabling clients to make more informed operational and strategic decisions.

Verisk’s product portfolio combines large proprietary datasets with analytics platforms and industry?specific applications.