Spinnaker Trust Sells 100 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Spinnaker Trust lessened its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,384 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Spinnaker Trust’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $491,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in VeriSign by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,826,836 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $369,989,000 after acquiring an additional 233,811 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 99.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 471.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 238,978 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $49,220,000 after purchasing an additional 197,169 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 13.1% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 16.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 105,901 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on VRSN shares. Citigroup reduced their price objective on VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on VeriSign from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN stock traded down $7.20 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $175.48. 1,931,523 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 646,443. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $174.51 and a 52 week high of $229.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.57 billion, a PE ratio of 21.56 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $189.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $200.03.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.06. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 47.39% and a net margin of 55.04%. The business had revenue of $384.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $381.85 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.70 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign 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 transaction of $119,737.29. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,427,122.19. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other VeriSign 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 transaction of $119,737.29. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,427,122.19. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,875 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.19, for a total value of $558,296.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,999,500.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,877 shares of company stock valued at $2,878,864. Corporate insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

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.