Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

Several other research firms have also commented on VRSK. Rothschild & Co Redburn reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $220.00 target price (down from $280.00) on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $290.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Argus downgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $310.00 to $275.00 in a report on Thursday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $278.64.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $220.41 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $220.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $247.40. Verisk Analytics has a one year low of $196.99 and a one year high of $322.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.55, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market cap of $30.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.81.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 27.44%.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Jeffrey J. Dailey bought 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $217.03 per share, with a total value of $108,515.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 3,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $859,872.86. The trade was a 14.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total transaction of $238,689.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 77,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,883,340.93. This represents a 1.39% 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 worth $314,663 and have sold 1,700 shares worth $369,648. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,232 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,259,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 39.6% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 11,931 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,551,000 after purchasing an additional 3,385 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 114.4% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 253 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 14.9% during the second quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 523 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $163,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 9.6% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 17,701 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,514,000 after buying an additional 1,556 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Company Profile

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.