Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Shares Purchased by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 79.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 187,566 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 83,030 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned approximately 0.13% of Verisk Analytics worth $51,661,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 468.8% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.95, for a total value of $347,746.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,066,180.70. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $88,614.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,922,507.70. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,837 shares of company stock valued at $1,121,618 over the last quarter. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays downgraded Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $297.40.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.8 %

Verisk Analytics stock traded up $2.36 during trading on Monday, reaching $288.41. 777,142 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 773,754. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.34 and a 52-week high of $306.68. The company has a market capitalization of $40.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.99, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $291.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $284.99.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.87%.

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.