Equitable Trust Co. Sells 250 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Equitable Trust Co. lowered its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 6,497 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 250 shares during the quarter. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,345,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 7.3% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 693,369 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $131,712,000 after buying an additional 47,412 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in VeriSign by 26.3% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 580,613 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $110,293,000 after buying an additional 120,958 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 1.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 527,551 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $100,214,000 after buying an additional 9,574 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 12.2% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 428,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $81,426,000 after buying an additional 46,677 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in VeriSign by 544.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $81,003,000 after buying an additional 330,561 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $222.24 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $21.36 billion, a PE ratio of 27.78 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $167.04 and a 52 week high of $224.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $205.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $190.84.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 44.06%.

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.