First Trust Advisors LP Has $191.30 Million Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 232.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 760,599 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 531,713 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $191,298,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in 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 during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 39.6% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 11,931 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,551,000 after purchasing an additional 3,385 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Verisk Analytics by 114.4% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 253 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at $366,000. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% during the second quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 10,550 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,286,000 after acquiring an additional 794 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSK has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, February 19th. UBS Group set a $224.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $260.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $223.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.54, for a total transaction of $65,862.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 14,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,131,738.10. The trade was a 2.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Christopher John Perry bought 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was bought at an average price of $180.00 per share, with a total value of $180,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $538,920. This represents a 50.15% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $214.75 on Friday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.60 and a 12-month high of $322.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.42. The company has a market cap of $29.62 billion, a PE ratio of 33.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $206.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $226.06.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.22. The company 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 prior year, the business earned $1.61 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.450-7.75 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is 27.73%.

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

Verisk Analytics 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.