Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Sells 17,973 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd trimmed its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 82.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,745 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 17,973 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $775,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $577,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. CX Institutional raised its holdings in VeriSign by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,429 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Keystone Financial Services raised its holdings in VeriSign by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Services now owns 1,137 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $235,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

VeriSign Stock Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $237.88 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $216.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $195.96. The stock has a market cap of $22.50 billion, a PE ratio of 29.74 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $167.04 and a 52 week high of $239.95.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at $5,033,391.51. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.84% 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.