Swiss National Bank Sells 17,900 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Swiss National Bank cut its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 248,200 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 17,900 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $51,367,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 127.2% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 184 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management boosted its stake in VeriSign by 69.8% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on VRSN shares. StockNews.com lowered VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of 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 note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $238.35 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.04 and a 1 year high of $242.23. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $223.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $200.20. The firm has a market cap of $22.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.79 and a beta of 0.87.

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

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.