Mackenzie Financial Corp Boosts Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 105.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,992 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,631 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $9,473,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VRSN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth $201,956,000. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,152,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,934,092,000 after purchasing an additional 587,635 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,826,836 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $369,989,000 after purchasing an additional 233,811 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 99.0% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,523 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $89,624,000 after purchasing an additional 220,106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 471.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 238,978 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $49,220,000 after purchasing an additional 197,169 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $184.12 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $18.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.25 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $190.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $200.81. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $181.57 and a 1-year high of $229.72.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The information services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $380.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $381.01 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 46.56% and a net margin of 54.74%. On average, analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 7.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VRSN. StockNews.com downgraded VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup cut their price objective on VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.05, for a total value of $122,017.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,930,124.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.21, for a total value of $1,820,617.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 111,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,552,768.71. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.05, for a total value of $122,017.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 34,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,930,124.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,877 shares of company stock valued at $2,878,864 in the last three months. 0.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Profile

VeriSign, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides domain name registry services and internet infrastructure that enables internet navigation for various recognized domain names worldwide. The company enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of thirteen internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which supports global e-commerce.