Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 231,447 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. $VRSK

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lowered its holdings in Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,186,042 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 231,447 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $1,303,952,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSK. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.5% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,388,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Verisk Analytics by 2.2% in the first quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,807 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $835,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 3.3% in the first quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 15,446 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,597,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Verisk Analytics by 270.3% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 337 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in shares of Verisk Analytics by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 3,175 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $945,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. 90.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Verisk Analytics from $334.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $220.00 target price (down from $280.00) on shares of Verisk Analytics in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $315.00 to $250.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Verisk Analytics from $314.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Verisk Analytics in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $282.14.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSK opened at $215.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.55, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.53. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $196.99 and a 1 year high of $322.92. The company has a market cap of $30.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.90, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $237.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $275.26.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.02. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 30.42% and a return on equity of 425.42%. The business had revenue of $768.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $776.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.67 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Verisk Analytics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-7.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Verisk Analytics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.23, for a total transaction of $72,669.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 14,865 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,600,748.95. This represents a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Sabra R. Purtill acquired 450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $217.95 per share, for a total transaction of $98,077.50. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 1,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $289,219.65. This trade represents a 51.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 1,450 shares of company stock valued at $314,663 and have sold 7,120 shares valued at $1,880,196. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.