AGF Management Ltd. Sells 4,666 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

AGF Management Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 24.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,694 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,666 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $3,041,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VRSN. Amundi lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 702,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $148,604,000 after buying an additional 106,094 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 47,412 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at about $141,129,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted 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 worth $110,293,000 after purchasing an additional 120,958 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 570,016 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $117,971,000 after purchasing an additional 42,465 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.4 %

VeriSign stock opened at $235.60 on Thursday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $167.04 and a 1-year high of $242.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.29 billion, a PE ratio of 29.45 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $222.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $199.44.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.