Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Decreases Stock Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lowered its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 1.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,417,489 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 55,292 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 3.16% of Verisk Analytics worth $1,314,733,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Louisbourg Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Global Financial Private Client LLC raised its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 966.7% during the first quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 128 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the first quarter worth approximately $48,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the 1st quarter valued at $60,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $302.40.

Insider Activity at Verisk Analytics

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 5,419 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total transaction of $1,630,360.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 55,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,821,985.18. The trade was a 8.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.88, for a total transaction of $91,164.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 15,765 shares in the company, valued at $4,790,668.20. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,825 shares of company stock worth $8,947,730. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

VRSK traded up $1.34 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $301.48. The stock had a trading volume of 707,070 shares, compared to its average volume of 854,966. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.13, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.14, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.86. The company's 50-day moving average price is $309.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $295.78. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $257.59 and a twelve month high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $753.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $750.31 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 33.13% and a return on equity of 396.08%. Verisk Analytics's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

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.