Prudential Financial Inc. Trims Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Prudential Financial Inc. cut its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 7.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,081 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,551 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $9,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VRSN. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new position in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $141,129,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 544.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $81,003,000 after buying an additional 330,561 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 322.2% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,639,000 after acquiring an additional 199,583 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in VeriSign in the third quarter valued at $35,665,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 56.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 383,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $79,286,000 after purchasing an additional 138,796 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $250.92 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.37 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $167.05 and a 52-week high of $256.35. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $230.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $204.39.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com downgraded VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup lifted their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

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.