Xponance Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Xponance Inc. decreased its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 596 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of VRSN. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 14.7% in the third 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 in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 99.0% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 471.6% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 13.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,090,068 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $220,771,000 after purchasing an additional 125,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 16.5% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 749,534 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $151,802,000 after purchasing an additional 105,901 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on VRSN. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN stock opened at $184.74 on Tuesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $181.57 and a one year high of $229.72. The stock has a market cap of $18.50 billion, a PE ratio of 23.33 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $190.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $200.63.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $116,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 41,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,971,450. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $116,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,971,450. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.05, for a total transaction of $122,017.65. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 34,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Company 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.