Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSK) stock rose over 1.3% in the pre market session of Feb 20th, 2019 (Source: Google finance). In the fourth quarter 2018, net income has fallen 28.5% to $146 million, reflecting an $89 million tax benefit in the fourth quarter of 2017 due to tax reform. Net cash provided by operating activities was $934 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, which is a rise of 25.7%. Capital expenditures grew 25.9% to $231 million and were 9.6% of revenues for the year ended December 31, 2018. This increase in capital expenditures is primarily due to the purchase of aircraft associated with the remote imagery business and software development to support and improve new and existing products across the organization. Free cash flow was $703 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, an increase of 25.6%.
VRSK in the fourth quarter of FY 18 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $1.04, while adjusted revenue growth of 7.7 percent to $613.9 million in the fourth quarter of FY 18, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $609.3 million. Organic constant currency revenue growth was 5.4%. Adjusted EBITDA expenses increased 6.4% compared with fourth-quarter 2017 on an organic constant currency basis. The year-over-year increase was primarily due to salaries and benefits related to innovation and business growth, particularly in the remote imagery business.
Moreover, during the fourth quarter 2018, Insurance segment revenue grew 7.6%, Underwriting & rating revenue increased 7.4%, Claims revenue grew 8.0%, Energy and Specialized Markets segment revenue increased 11.7% and Financial Services segment revenue decreased 1.8%.
Additionally, VRSK has approved the initiation of a cash dividend to shareholders. Verisk will pay a cash dividend, which is the first in the company’s history, of $0.25 per share of common stock on March 29, 2019, to shareholders of record on the close of business on March 15, 2019. Further, the company had repurchased 1.3 million shares for the fourth-quarter 2018 for a total return of capital to shareholders of $156 million. The company also entered into an additional $75 million ASR agreement, and the associated shares will be delivered and settled in March 2019. At December 31, 2018, the company had $428 million remaining under its share repurchase authorization.