Alta Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Alta Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 89,708 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,153 shares during the quarter. VeriSign accounts for 1.1% of Alta Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Alta Capital Management LLC owned about 0.09% of VeriSign worth $18,566,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $577,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 57 shares during the period. CX Institutional lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Keystone Financial Services lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the subject of several research reports. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup upped 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 boosted their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.0 %

VRSN opened at $240.16 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $22.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.02 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.04 and a 12 month high of $242.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $217.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $196.70.

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

VeriSign Company 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.