Machina Capital S.A.S. Lowers Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Machina Capital S.A.S. cut its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 41.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,477 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,799 shares during the quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,134,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $227,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in VeriSign by 68.1% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $162,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 23,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,300,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 3rd quarter valued at $157,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $251,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $240.47 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $220.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $198.10. The company has a market cap of $22.75 billion, a PE ratio of 30.06 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $167.04 and a fifty-two week high of $242.23.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its 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 negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

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.