Zacks Research Issues Pessimistic Forecast for VRSK Earnings

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) – Zacks Research reduced their Q1 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Verisk Analytics in a research note issued on Wednesday, March 19th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now expects that the business services provider will earn $1.67 per share for the quarter, down from their previous 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 results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $733.55 million.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on VRSK. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, January 10th. Six research 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, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $285.16 on Friday. Verisk Analytics has a 1 year low of $217.34 and a 1 year high of $306.10. The stock has a market cap of $40.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.49, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day moving average of $289.28 and a 200-day moving average of $280.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verisk Analytics

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $334,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.2% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $543,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.7% in the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $672,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 897 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 4.8% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 974 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were 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 owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,155.96. This represents a 18.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock worth $1,613,047. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is presently 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.