Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 10,959 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 9.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 100,282 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 10,959 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $20,654,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VRSN. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,826,836 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $369,989,000 after buying an additional 233,811 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 99.0% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 471.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 13.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,090,068 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $220,771,000 after purchasing an additional 125,901 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 749,534 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $151,802,000 after buying an additional 105,901 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $169.79 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $184.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $197.50. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.04 and a 1 year high of $229.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.91 billion, a PE ratio of 20.86 and a beta of 0.89.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $384.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $381.85 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 47.21% and a net margin of 55.04%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $119,737.29. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,427,122.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was 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 directly owns 111,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,552,768.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,140 shares of company stock valued at $2,732,141. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd.

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.