Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK Shares Acquired by Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.

Key Points

• Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in Verisk by 620% in Q4, purchasing an additional 9,232 shares to hold 10,721 shares valued at $2.398 million per its SEC filing.
• Verisk beat quarterly estimates with $1.82 EPS and $778.8M revenue, set FY2026 guidance of $7.45–7.75 EPS, authorized a $2.5 billion buyback (up to 10.1% of shares) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.50.
• The stock trades around $181 (market cap ~$24.97 billion, P/E ~27.9), institutional investors own about 90%, and analysts rate it a “Moderate Buy” with an average target of $237.20.

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 620.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,721 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,232 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.'s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $2,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,241,327 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,336,366,000 after purchasing an additional 346,525 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,354,082 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,346,605,000 after purchasing an additional 158,791 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,694,505 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $426,185,000 after purchasing an additional 26,518 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.4% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,493,296 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $374,547,000 after purchasing an additional 89,193 shares during the period. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 31.8% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,492,715 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $375,433,000 after purchasing an additional 360,419 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 2.0%

VRSK opened at $181.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.42, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $194.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $215.01. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.60 and a 1-year high of $322.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.82.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.22. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 29.56% and a return on equity of 357.00%. The business had revenue of $778.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $773.74 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.61 EPS. The business's revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.450-7.75 EPS. Analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 18th that permits the company to buyback $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is 30.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.71, for a total value of $81,884.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 20,384 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,172,808.64. This trade represents a 1.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Christopher John Perry bought 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $180.00 per share, for a total transaction of $180,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 2,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $538,920. This represents a 50.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on VRSK. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Verisk Analytics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, January 25th. Robert W. Baird set a $230.00 price target on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. UBS Group set a $224.00 price target on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Verisk Analytics from $260.00 to $220.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $237.20.

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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