William Blair Investment Management LLC Acquires New Holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter, purchasing 399,551 shares worth about $89.4 million. The firm now owns 0.29% of the company.
• Wall Street sentiment is mixed on Verisk Analytics: recent notes include buy/outperform ratings and higher price targets from firms like Wells Fargo and Baird, but Weiss Ratings downgraded the stock to sell. The consensus rating is currently Hold with an average target price of $237.20.
• Verisk reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $1.82 versus $1.76 expected and revenue of $782.6 million, while also maintaining a quarterly dividend of $0.50 and authorizing a $2.5 billion share buyback.

William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 399,551 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $89,376,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 0.29% of Verisk Analytics as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $230.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Capital One Financial set a $224.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Verisk Analytics from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $223.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $237.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.22, for a total value of $63,688.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 19,584 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,118,164.48. This represents a 2.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 1,200 shares of company stock valued at $214,200 over the last 90 days. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSK opened at $171.11 on Monday. 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's fifty day moving average price is $180.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $200.84. 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 $22.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.72.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $782.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $771.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.73 earnings per share. The company's quarterly 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. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

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

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

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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