Clarius Group LLC Has $295,000 Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Clarius Group LLC lessened its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,434 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 70 shares during the quarter. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth $201,956,000. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,152,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,934,092,000 after acquiring an additional 587,635 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,826,836 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $369,989,000 after purchasing an additional 233,811 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 99.0% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,523 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $89,624,000 after purchasing an additional 220,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in VeriSign by 471.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 238,978 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $49,220,000 after purchasing an additional 197,169 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN stock opened at $185.43 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $192.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $201.47. The company has a market cap of $18.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.41 and a beta of 0.88. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $185.19 and a fifty-two week high of $229.72.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The information services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $380.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $381.01 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 46.56% and a net margin of 54.74%. Equities analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 7.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on VRSN. Citigroup dropped their price target on VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.58, for a total value of $407,160.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 504,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,666,615.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.21, for a total value of $1,820,617.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 111,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,552,768.71. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.58, for a total transaction of $407,160.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 504,306 shares in the company, valued at $102,666,615.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,002 shares of company stock worth $3,714,154 over the last three months. 0.94% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.