Legal & General Group Plc Decreases Stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc cut its Verisk Analytics stake by 3.5% in Q4, selling 44,344 shares and ending with 1.217 million shares valued at about $272.3 million.
• Verisk recently posted better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $1.82 versus estimates of $1.76 and revenue of $782.6 million, up 4% year over year. The company also reiterated FY2026 guidance of $7.45 to $7.75 EPS.
• The board approved a $2.5 billion share buyback and the company declared a $0.50 quarterly dividend, equal to a 1.2% annual yield. Meanwhile, analysts currently have a consensus Hold rating with an average price target of $237.20.

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,217,355 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 44,344 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.87% of Verisk Analytics worth $272,310,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 0.3%

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $171.59 on Wednesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $155.94 and a 1-year high of $322.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.42. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $200.20.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.06. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 29.34% and a negative return on equity of 2,405.75%. The business had revenue of $782.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $771.62 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.73 EPS. Verisk Analytics's revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.450-7.750 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 18th that permits the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to repurchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is currently 30.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.22, for a total value of $63,688.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 19,584 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,118,164.48. This trade represents a 2.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 2,335 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.51, for a total transaction of $400,475.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 15,868 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,721,520.68. The trade was a 12.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 3,535 shares of company stock valued at $614,676 over the last quarter. 0.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VRSK shares. UBS Group set a $224.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $215.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Robert W. Baird set a $230.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Capital One Financial set a $224.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $235.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $237.20.

About Verisk Analytics

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.

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