Christopher John Perry Purchases 1,000 Shares of Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stock

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Director Christopher John Perry acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were bought at an average price of $180.00 per share, for a total transaction of $180,000.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 2,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $538,920. This trade represents a 50.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $195.82 on Thursday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.60 and a 1 year high of $322.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.42, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.20. The business’s fifty day moving average is $207.48 and its 200-day moving average is $228.74. The stock has a market cap of $27.01 billion, a PE ratio of 30.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.79.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $778.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $773.74 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 29.56% and a return on equity of 357.00%. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.61 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.450-7.75 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 27.73%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jensen Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 50.7% during the third quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 424,645 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $106,802,000 after buying an additional 142,911 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp bought a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,256,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,196,460 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $300,931,000 after acquiring an additional 73,026 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 101,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,646,000 after acquiring an additional 17,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at about $366,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VRSK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $260.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $239.00 to $206.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Barclays raised shares of Verisk Analytics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $310.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $240.86.

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.