Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Increases Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 405.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,011 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,846 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,582,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,241,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,336,366,000 after acquiring an additional 346,525 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.1% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,354,082 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,346,605,000 after acquiring an additional 158,791 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 26,518 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 6.4% during 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 buying an additional 89,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 5.2% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,261,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $317,330,000 after buying an additional 62,533 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSK has been the subject of several research reports. Capital One Financial set a $224.00 target price on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $225.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Weiss Ratings lowered Verisk Analytics from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Verisk Analytics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 25th. 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, six have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $237.20.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.22, for a total transaction 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 approximately $3,118,164.48. This represents a 2.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold 1,200 shares of company stock worth $214,200 over the last three months. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $171.11 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.42 billion, a PE ratio of 26.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $180.60 and a 200-day moving average of $200.84. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $155.94 and a 52 week high of $322.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.42.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. 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 30.44%.

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

Verisk Analytics 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.