Cerity Partners LLC Takes $564,000 Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,738 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $564,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 52.0% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 152 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 3.6% in the third quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $349,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in VeriSign by 0.8% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 8,571 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,736,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC grew its holdings in VeriSign by 5.6% in the third quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 1,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 4.0% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,881 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $381,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $119,737.29. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,427,122.19. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $119,737.29. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,427,122.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $1,820,617.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 111,551 shares in the company, valued at $21,552,768.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,877 shares of company stock valued at $2,878,864 over the last ninety days. 0.94% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $185.55 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.58 billion, a PE ratio of 23.43 and a beta of 0.88. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $181.01 and a 1-year high of $229.72. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $189.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $200.37.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The information services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $380.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $381.01 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 54.74% and a negative return on equity of 46.56%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 7.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSN has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd.

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.