Brokerages Set Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Target Price at $226.71

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $226.7143.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VRSK. Robert W. Baird set a $247.00 target price on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 2.9%

VRSK opened at $176.48 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.42, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $189.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $185.28. Verisk Analytics has a 1-year low of $155.94 and a 1-year high of $253.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.66.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.05. Verisk Analytics had a negative return on equity of 239.55% and a net margin of 28.24%.The business had revenue of $806.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $804.02 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.450-7.750 EPS. Analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will post 7.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.72%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 3,535 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.43, for a total value of $683,775.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 98,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,050,920.70. This represents a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kathy Beckles sold 2,020 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.49, for a total value of $394,889.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 11,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,251,262.84. The trade was a 14.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,390 shares of company stock valued at $2,470,792. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. XXEC Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at about $992,675,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth about $1,852,678,000. Bamco Inc. NY purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at about $844,259,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,121,219 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $923,576,000 after buying an additional 36,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1,200.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,264,323 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $730,196,000 after acquiring an additional 3,013,400 shares during the period. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Verisk Analytics

Verisk Analytics, Inc (NASDAQ:VRSK), commonly known as Verisk, is a data analytics and technology company that helps organizations manage risk and make informed decisions. The company primarily serves the insurance industry, providing data, predictive analytics, software and decision-support tools for property and casualty insurers, life insurers and other risk-focused businesses.

Verisk’s products and services support insurance underwriting, pricing, claims management, catastrophe modeling, fraud detection, actuarial analysis and regulatory compliance.