Zacks Research Issues Negative Forecast for VRSK Earnings

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) – Equities research analysts at Zacks Research lowered their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for Verisk Analytics in a report released on Wednesday, March 19th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now anticipates that the business services provider will earn $1.67 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $1.72. The consensus estimate for Verisk Analytics’ current full-year earnings is $6.63 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Verisk Analytics’ Q2 2025 earnings at $1.78 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $1.76 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $1.76 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $6.97 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $1.93 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $1.97 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $1.99 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $7.77 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $8.51 EPS.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on VRSK. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $285.16 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $289.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $280.71. Verisk Analytics has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $306.10. The company has a market capitalization of $40.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

About Verisk Analytics

Verisk Analytics, Inc provides data analytics and technology solutions to the insurance markets in the United States and internationally. It offers policy language, prospective loss costs, policy writing and rating rules, and various underwriting solutions for risk selection and segmentation, pricing, and workflow optimization; property- and auto- specific rating and underwriting information solutions that allows clients to understand, quantify, underwrite, mitigate, and avoid potential loss for risks; catastrophe modeling solutions, which enables companies to identify, quantify, and plan for the financial consequences of catastrophes for use by insurers, reinsurers, intermediaries, financial institutions, and governments.