M&T Bank Corp Reduces Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

M&T Bank Corp cut its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 7.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,677 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 396 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in VeriSign by 291.1% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 176 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 117.2% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 202 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 93.2% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 226 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was 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 $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,228 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $233,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,382,670. This represents a 3.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,776 shares of company stock worth $1,102,524. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $195.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $186.26 and a 200 day moving average of $182.46. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $209.47.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.06. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 45.59% and a net margin of 55.74%. The business had revenue of $390.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $390.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.83 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis.

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.