What You Need To Know About These Four Trending Stocks

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) has fallen by 9.6% in early morning trading after the company reported third quarter earnings of $0.85 per share on revenues of $550.4 million (up by 22.7% year-over-year). The results beat analysts’ profit estimates by $0.08 per share but missed revenue expectations by $18.84 million. Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations increased by 31.9% year-over-year to $278.8 million while total organic revenue grew by 5.6%. Given the stock’s nice rally since its IPO in 2009, shares could use a quarter or two to consolidate. According to our data, hedge funds were bullish on Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) in the second quarter. A total of 37 funds reported stakes worth $933.74 million as of the end of June, versus 29 funds with stakes valued at $616.23 million as of the end of March. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owned 1.56 million Verisk shares at the end of June.

Last but not least, American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG) is up by 3.2% on abnormally heavy volume after activist investor Carl Icahn of Icahn Capital LP urged the insurer to split into three companies to avoid the government’s systemically important financial institution (SIFI) designation. The government’s SIFI designation adds extra regulatory costs and generally lowers the return-on-capital for companies because management under the extra regulation take less risks. By avoiding the designation, American International Group would earn better returns, and could potentially reach its book value per share of $79.74 faster. Icahn, who recently established a substantial stake in AIG, also asked the insurer to better control its costs to compete with its peers. Given that normalizing interest rates in the near future should increase returns on capital and that AIG currently has a cheap valuation, we like the stock for the long run. Hedge funds are also bullish. A total of 99 funds reported stakes worth $11.4 billion (accounting for 13.80% of its shares) as of the end of June.

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