Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 21.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 145,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 39,200 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC owned about 0.15% of VeriSign worth $30,048,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. CX Institutional raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,429 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Keystone Financial Services raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Services now owns 1,137 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Up 2.2 %

VRSN opened at $238.24 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $213.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $194.95. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $167.04 and a 12-month high of $239.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.78 and a beta of 0.90.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th.

About VeriSign

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.