VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Sold by iA Global Asset Management Inc.

iA Global Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 59.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,247 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,700 shares during the quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,086,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the third quarter worth about $263,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 20.5% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 8,195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,557,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the third quarter valued at approximately $392,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 186.2% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $688,000 after purchasing an additional 2,355 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.9% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,832 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $728,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on VRSN. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target 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.

Insider Activity

In related 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 transaction of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $244.51 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $226.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $202.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.13 billion, a PE ratio of 30.56 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $167.05 and a 12-month high of $245.67.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (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.