William Blair Weighs in on Verisk Analytics, Inc.’s FY2024 Earnings (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) – Stock analysts at William Blair lifted their FY2024 earnings per share estimates for Verisk Analytics in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, May 1st. William Blair analyst A. Nicholas now expects that the business services provider will earn $6.50 per share for the year, up from their prior 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.

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

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America lowered Verisk Analytics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.31.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSK opened at $241.86 on Monday. Verisk Analytics has a 1 year low of $209.02 and a 1 year high of $251.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $231.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $236.00. The company has a market capitalization of $34.51 billion, a PE ratio of 45.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.79.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth about $374,530,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 90.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,141,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $272,663,000 after buying an additional 542,432 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 45.8% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,342,721 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $320,722,000 after buying an additional 422,002 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 5.5% during the 3rd 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 buying an additional 392,945 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 21.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,195,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $282,418,000 after acquiring an additional 211,032 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total value of $346,433.22. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,528,824.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.93, for a total value of $346,433.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 51,715 shares in the company, valued at $11,528,824.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 227 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.61, for a total value of $53,937.47. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,796 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,852,407.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,952 over the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is 29.10%.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Company Profile

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.