Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Lowers Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. reduced its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 41.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 30,337 shares during the quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $8,902,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Amundi raised its position in VeriSign by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 702,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $148,604,000 after buying an additional 106,094 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 693,369 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $131,712,000 after purchasing an additional 47,412 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at $141,129,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 26.3% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 580,613 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $110,293,000 after purchasing an additional 120,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 570,016 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $117,971,000 after purchasing an additional 42,465 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Stock Down 0.9 %

VRSN opened at $233.56 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $222.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $199.67. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $242.23. The company has a market capitalization of $22.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.20 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup raised their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.