Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) to Post FY2024 Earnings of $6.50 Per Share, William Blair Forecasts

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) – William Blair upped their FY2024 earnings estimates for Verisk Analytics in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, May 1st. William Blair analyst A. Nicholas now anticipates that the business services provider will earn $6.50 per share for the year, up from their previous forecast of $6.46. The consensus estimate for Verisk Analytics’ current full-year earnings is $6.53 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Verisk Analytics’ Q4 2024 earnings at $1.62 EPS.

A number of other analysts have also commented on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $254.31.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $247.00 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $231.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $236.09. Verisk Analytics has a fifty-two week low of $209.02 and a fifty-two week high of $251.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.24 billion, a PE ratio of 46.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.79.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 28.45% and a return on equity of 268.19%. The company had revenue of $704.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $699.07 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,407,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,919,008,000 after acquiring an additional 170,620 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,523,191 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,777,279,000 after purchasing an additional 392,945 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,929,841 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,164,626,000 after purchasing an additional 182,631 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,661,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $392,526,000 after buying an additional 89,920 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $374,530,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total transaction of $375,619.75. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total transaction of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 50,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at $2,829,348.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.10%.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.