Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 663,629 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA reduced its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,859,562 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 663,629 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 4.73% of Verisk Analytics worth $1,638,475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Smithfield Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 727 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 3.4% during the third quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,417 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance grew its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 1,147 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GYL Financial Synergies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC now owns 6,149 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,453,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verisk Analytics

In related news, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at $2,829,348.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Nicholas Daffan sold 1,507 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.25, for a total transaction of $375,619.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 50,208 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,514,344. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO David J. Grover sold 6,481 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.06, for a total transaction of $1,510,461.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,140 shares in the company, valued at $2,829,348.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,300 shares of company stock worth $2,647,952 over the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK traded up $3.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $248.31. 697,949 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,031,948. The company has a market cap of $35.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.79. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $231.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $236.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a one year low of $212.90 and a one year high of $251.98.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.11. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 28.45% and a return on equity of 268.19%. The business had revenue of $704.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $699.07 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.29 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.53 EPS for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 21st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on VRSK. Evercore ISI restated an "in-line" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Verisk Analytics from $238.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $254.31.

Verisk Analytics Company 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.

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