Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Receives Outperform Rating from Royal Bank Of Canada

Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $230.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock.

VRSK has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Monday, December 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Verisk Analytics from $260.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. UBS Group set a $224.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.20.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics stock opened at $187.36 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $198.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $217.82. Verisk Analytics 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.87, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.81.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced 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. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 357.00% and a net margin of 29.56%.The business had revenue of $778.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $773.74 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.61 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.450-7.75 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics 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 paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 30.82%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan 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 plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, Director Christopher John Perry acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $180.00 per share, for a total transaction of $180,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $538,920. The trade was a 50.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.71, for a total value of $81,884.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 20,384 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,172,808.64. This represents a 1.92% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verisk Analytics

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1,200.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,264,323 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $730,196,000 after buying an additional 3,013,400 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $346,457,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 334.5% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 754,548 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $188,237,000 after acquiring an additional 580,885 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its stake in Verisk Analytics by 1,879.0% during the 3rd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 566,235 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $142,414,000 after purchasing an additional 537,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 232.3% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 760,599 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $191,298,000 after acquiring an additional 531,713 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.