Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Has $1.23 Billion Position in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its stake in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,472,781 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 285,099 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 3.17% of Verisk Analytics worth $1,231,938,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of VRSK. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,148 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $867,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. OV Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. OV Management LLC now owns 6,811 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,876,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Verisk Analytics by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,811,563 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,051,300,000 after purchasing an additional 19,423 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC grew its position in Verisk Analytics by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,446 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $720,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,270,745 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $350,001,000 after purchasing an additional 39,544 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Activity

In other news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.81, for a total value of $321,642.99. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,760,958.66. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047. Insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Verisk Analytics from $298.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays cut Verisk Analytics from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Stock Down 6.6 %

NASDAQ:VRSK traded down $20.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $284.99. The stock had a trading volume of 2,102,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 767,931. The stock has a market cap of $39.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.46, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.88. The business's 50 day moving average is $292.64 and its 200 day moving average is $282.37. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.34 and a fifty-two week high of $306.68.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. The company had revenue of $735.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.55 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Verisk Analytics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. This is a boost from Verisk Analytics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is currently 26.87%.

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.