Legal & General Group Plc Invests $205.09 Million in Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Key Points

• Legal & General Group acquired 1.14 million Verisk Analytics shares worth approximately $205.1 million, giving it a 0.88% stake. Institutional investors collectively own about 90% of the company.
• Verisk reported quarterly EPS of $1.98, exceeding estimates of $1.93, while revenue rose 4.3% year over year to $806.3 million. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, equivalent to a 1.1% annual yield.
• Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $236.27, although targets range from $185 to $260. The stock recently traded near $187.87, while company insiders sold more than $4.17 million in shares during the quarter.

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,142,382 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $205,092,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.88% of Verisk Analytics at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. XXEC Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $992,675,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,852,678,000. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1,200.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,264,323 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $730,196,000 after purchasing an additional 3,013,400 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 4th quarter valued at $346,457,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter valued at $138,842,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.3%

Verisk Analytics stock opened at $187.87 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.86, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.42, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $155.94 and a fifty-two week high of $273.83. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.26.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $806.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $804.02 million. Verisk Analytics had a negative return on equity of 239.55% and a net margin of 28.24%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.88 EPS. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.450-7.750 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,020 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.49, for a total value of $394,889.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 11,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,251,262.84. The trade was a 14.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 3,535 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.94, for a total transaction of $696,182.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 98,490 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,396,620.60. This trade represents a 3.46% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 22,227 shares of company stock valued at $4,174,599. 0.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $235.00 price target on Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Verisk Analytics from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. UBS Group raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $185.00 target price on Verisk Analytics and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $236.27.

Verisk Analytics Company Profile

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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