Intech Investment Management LLC Sells 46,786 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Intech Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 58.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 33,708 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 46,786 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $8,189,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VRSN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,443,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,199,318,000 after buying an additional 861,065 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 394.1% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 552,008 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $154,325,000 after buying an additional 440,289 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,523,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $985,063,000 after buying an additional 426,492 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 191.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 626,570 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $152,225,000 after buying an additional 411,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 1,035.6% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 420,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $117,651,000 after buying an additional 383,771 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Citigroup upped their target price on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $317.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total value of $1,355,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,538,548.90. This represents a 12.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 498 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.06, for a total value of $134,489.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 38,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,316,832.12. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 6,826 shares of company stock valued at $1,821,354 over the last three months. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

VeriSign Stock Down 3.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $285.38 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $274.64 and its 200-day moving average is $252.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.53 and a beta of 0.68.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The company had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. VeriSign’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.80%.

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) is an internet infrastructure company that operates critical components of the global Domain Name System (DNS) and provides cybersecurity-related services. The company is best known as the authoritative registry operator for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the central databases and zone files that enable domain name resolution for millions of websites. VeriSign’s registry role is performed under contractual agreements with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and involves high-availability, highly secure operations to support continuous internet connectivity.

In addition to its registry business, VeriSign offers a suite of services designed to protect and accelerate DNS and internet traffic for enterprises and service providers.