Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Buys 23,823 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 29.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 104,536 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 23,823 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned about 0.07% of Verisk Analytics worth $28,011,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verisk Analytics during the second quarter worth $34,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the third quarter worth $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the second quarter valued at $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $1.99 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $281.36. 808,648 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 777,239. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $279.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $272.82. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.34 and a 12-month high of $296.58. The stock has a market cap of $39.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36.

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

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $286,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,517,157.87. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total transaction of $57,298.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,608 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,471,535.92. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,400 shares of company stock valued at $678,764 in the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VRSK. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on Verisk Analytics from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Verisk Analytics from $268.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI reiterated an "in-line" rating and issued a $279.00 price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $289.80.

About Verisk Analytics

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.