Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Director Christopher John Perry Buys 1,000 Shares

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Director Christopher John Perry bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $180.00 per share, for a total transaction of $180,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 2,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $538,920. This represents a 50.15% 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.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

VRSK stock opened at $191.17 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $207.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $228.97. The stock has a market cap of $26.37 billion, a PE ratio of 29.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.79. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $164.60 and a one year high of $322.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.42, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

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

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 18th that allows the company to buyback $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on VRSK shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Verisk Analytics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 25th. Evercore decreased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $262.00 to $250.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Argus cut shares of Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley set a $230.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $240.86.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Jensen Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Verisk Analytics by 50.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 424,645 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $106,802,000 after buying an additional 142,911 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the third quarter worth $1,256,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,196,460 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $300,931,000 after acquiring an additional 73,026 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 20.3% during the third 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 purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter worth about $366,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.