Covered, compounding. A 1.02% yield on a 30.78% payout is covered income with room to grow: $0.50 a quarter, raised in 2026 from $0.45, for a 6th consecutive year of increases. Most earnings stay retained behind a data business whose insurer customers renew on workflow, not on a single product cycle.
Key risk: Insurer-customer concentration and leverage — Verisk sells into insurance workflows, so a pullback in insurer spending or higher financing costs would hit the cash flow that funds both buybacks and the dividend.
Changes if: The payout pushes well past ~31%, or the annual raise streak breaks. Either would mean the retained cushion is narrowing, not just the yield moving.
- ✓Payout-coverage check: 30.78% of trailing earnings — the $2.00 indicated dividend leaves roughly two-thirds of earnings retained.
- ✓Yield check: 1.02% indicated — $0.50/qtr × 4 at the $195.88 close on Oct. 23, 2026. Real, earned yield for a single stock, not a special or a return of capital.
- ✓Dividend growth check: 6 consecutive years of increases; the latest step lifted the quarterly dividend 11%, from $0.45 to $0.50.
What this grade doesn't say: It screens the dividend only — covered, real, compounding. It says nothing about valuation or price: a well-covered payer can still be overpriced, and its price can still fall.