Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Sells 20,567 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. cut its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 32.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,794 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 20,567 shares during the quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $9,064,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,960 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $406,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in VeriSign by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $674,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its holdings in VeriSign by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $296,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $250.92 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.74 billion, a P/E 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $230.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $204.56.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly 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%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VRSN. StockNews.com downgraded shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup increased their price target on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign 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.