Madison Adds Verisk as Shares Retreat From Their Highs

Verisk Analytics shares closed at $171.94 on September 22, down 29.2% over the previous year and far below their 52-week high of $253.35. That pullback helped draw Madison Investments into the insurance-data company: its Madison Mid Cap Fund disclosed a new position in its second-quarter 2026 investor letter, arguing that Verisk’s deeply embedded services are difficult for insurers to cut, even when business softens.

The investment case rests on a business model tied to decisions insurers make every day. Verisk supplies proprietary data and analytics used to price policies, assess risks and manage claims. Those tools are woven into underwriting and claims workflows, giving the company a recurring-revenue base and making its products less discretionary than many other corporate services. Madison also pointed to Verisk’s record of annual revenue growth since going public in 2009, and argued that increased demand for data should support expansion.

Recent results offer evidence of that recurring engine, though not uniformly strong growth. In the second quarter, revenue rose 5.8% on an organic, constant-currency basis, while subscription revenue grew 8.0%, Verisk reported. Total revenue reached $806 million; net income fell 9.8% to $229 million. The contrast matters: customers continued to spend on subscriptions, but headline profit did not rise alongside sales.

Verisk is also investing beyond its established property-and-casualty business. At its March investor day, the company highlighted expansion in life insurance and specialty markets, new datasets and AI-enabled tools, while projecting 6% to 8% annual organic revenue growth for 2026 through 2028. Those ambitions offer several routes to growth, but they require sustained investment and execution. The company’s 2026 revenue outlook stood at $3.19 billion to $3.24 billion when it reported second-quarter results.

For Madison, the share-price decline created an entry point in a company whose customers rely on its data in routine operations. That is an investor’s thesis, not a guarantee: a durable workflow position cannot insulate Verisk from slower growth, changing technology or pressure on valuation. Investors will be watching whether subscription momentum holds and whether the company can turn its product investments into the longer-term expansion its backers expect.