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

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lowered its position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,757,880 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 208,914 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 3.37% of Verisk Analytics worth $1,274,922,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.8% during the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 4,327 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,159,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 26.5% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 26,204 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $7,022,000 after purchasing an additional 5,493 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 111.5% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 24,681 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,614,000 after purchasing an additional 13,010 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.2% during the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 164,767 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $44,151,000 after purchasing an additional 3,552 shares during the period. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 2.2% during the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,025 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $543,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total transaction of $54,266.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,289,184.64. This trade represents a 1.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lee Shavel sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.49, for a total value of $286,490.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,163 shares in the company, valued at $15,517,157.87. This trade represents a 1.81 % 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 over the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of VRSK traded up $3.24 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $287.44. 257,641 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 786,743. The stock has a market cap of $40.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.86. The stock's 50-day moving average is $271.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $267.79. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $291.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

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

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors 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 0.54%. Verisk Analytics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $263.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI reiterated an "in-line" rating and issued a $279.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $285.80.

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.