National Bank of Canada FI Trims Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

National Bank of Canada FI cut its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 70,027 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,897 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 0.07% of VeriSign worth $14,493,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 117,807 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,381,000 after acquiring an additional 15,765 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign by 39.9% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in VeriSign by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,284,759 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $265,894,000 after purchasing an additional 116,833 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz SE purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth $1,420,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on VRSN. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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 can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN opened at $240.20 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $234.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $206.83. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.05 and a 12 month high of $258.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.03 and a beta of 0.87.

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

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.