Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) to Buyback $2.50 billion in Shares

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 18th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $2.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on VRSK shares. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Verisk Analytics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $233.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Verisk Analytics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $315.00 to $239.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $264.21.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $184.07 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.06, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.79. Verisk Analytics has a fifty-two week low of $164.60 and a fifty-two week 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 50 day moving average price of $210.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $231.48.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.24. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 30.42% and a return on equity of 425.42%. The company had revenue of $778.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $773.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.61 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.450-7.75 EPS. Analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The company 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. 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. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 27.44%.

More Verisk Analytics News

Here are the key news stories impacting Verisk Analytics this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat estimates — Verisk reported $1.82 EPS vs. consensus ~ $1.58–$1.60 and revenue of ~$779M (up ~5–6% YoY); margins and EPS growth were highlighted on the call, driving strong investor reaction. Verisk quarterly profit beats estimates on steady data analytics demand
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend increase — Verisk raised its quarterly payout to $0.50 (an 11.1% increase), with an ex‑dividend/record schedule announced; this boosts yield and signals confidence in cash flow.
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic partnership — Verisk announced a data‑sharing collaboration with S&P Global Energy to deliver insurance‑adjusted climate risk intelligence, expanding product capability into climate/financial modeling areas. Verisk and S&P Global Energy Collaborate
• Neutral Sentiment: New analyst coverage — Bank of America initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and $205 price target, providing a modestly constructive third‑party view but not a catalyst to materially change consensus. Finviz (BofA initiation)
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings materials / call available — The company released its press release, slide deck and call transcript useful for modeling FY‑2026 assumptions. Verisk press release / slide deck
• Negative Sentiment: FY‑2026 guidance came in slightly below consensus — management set EPS at $7.45–7.75 (consensus ~7.71) and revenue guidance near $3.2B vs. the Street ~ $3.3B; that moderation helps explain some investor caution despite the quarter’s beat. Verisk’s Q4 Earnings and Revenues Surpass Estimates (Zacks)

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.54, for a total transaction of $65,862.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 14,265 shares in the company, valued at $3,131,738.10. The trade was a 2.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.46% 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.