27,770 Shares in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Bought by Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 27,770 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $7,441,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 2,380.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 272,965 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $73,144,000 after purchasing an additional 261,961 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 60.4% during the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 541,426 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $145,941,000 after buying an additional 203,951 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter valued at $28,739,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 187.1% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 171,835 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $46,305,000 after acquiring an additional 111,992 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,618,266 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $436,204,000 after acquiring an additional 111,364 shares during the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $3.17 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $290.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 649,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 697,556. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $41.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $272.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $268.27. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $291.42.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $722.19 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Verisk Analytics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $285.80.

Insider Transactions at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total value of $54,266.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares in the company, valued at $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 1.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.71, for a total transaction of $280,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,163 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,923,385.73. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Profile

Verisk Analytics, Inc provides data analytics and technology solutions to the insurance markets in the United States and internationally. It offers policy language, prospective loss costs, policy writing and rating rules, and various underwriting solutions for risk selection and segmentation, pricing, and workflow optimization; property- and auto- specific rating and underwriting information solutions that allows clients to understand, quantify, underwrite, mitigate, and avoid potential loss for risks; catastrophe modeling solutions, which enables companies to identify, quantify, and plan for the financial consequences of catastrophes for use by insurers, reinsurers, intermediaries, financial institutions, and governments.