Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) Stock Price Target Lowered at Morgan Stanley

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) had its price target dropped by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $235.00 to $215.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 21.41% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $247.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Verisk Analytics from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Barclays reduced their target price on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $185.00 target price on Verisk Analytics and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.79.

Verisk Analytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $0.40 on Tuesday, hitting $177.09. 375,746 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,914,898. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $179.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $181.01. Verisk Analytics has a 52 week low of $155.94 and a 52 week high of $245.68. The company has a market cap of $23.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.69.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $806.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $804.02 million. Verisk Analytics had a negative return on equity of 239.55% and a net margin of 28.24%. Verisk Analytics’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.88 EPS. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.450-7.750 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In other news, insider Kathy Beckles sold 2,020 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.49, for a total transaction of $394,889.80. Following the transaction, the insider owned 11,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,251,262.84. This trade represents a 14.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 3,535 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.70, for a total value of $603,424.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 98,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,812,243. The trade was a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 15,925 shares of company stock worth $3,074,216 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. XXEC Inc. acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the 2nd quarter worth about $992,675,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at about $1,852,678,000. Bamco Inc. NY acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at about $844,259,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 34.9% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,567,509 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $297,443,000 after purchasing an additional 405,824 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth about $266,201,000. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company’s stock.

Verisk Analytics Company Profile

Verisk Analytics, Inc is a data analytics and technology company that provides information, software and predictive insights primarily to the insurance industry. Its solutions help insurers assess risk, support underwriting, manage claims, detect fraud and improve pricing and operational decision-making across property and casualty, life and specialty insurance markets.

The company’s offerings include industry data and standardized insurance information through its ISO business, catastrophe modeling and risk analytics through Extreme Event Solutions and AIR Worldwide, and property estimating and claims-management tools through Xactware.