Trexquant Investment LP Decreases Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Trexquant Investment LP lowered its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 45.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 31,634 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 26,336 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $6,547,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VRSN. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in VeriSign by 544.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $81,003,000 after purchasing an additional 330,561 shares during the last quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 3,996.0% in the 4th quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC now owns 4,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $848,000 after buying an additional 3,996 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 322.2% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,639,000 after buying an additional 199,583 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in VeriSign by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 20,462 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,235,000 after acquiring an additional 2,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in VeriSign by 602.6% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 11,712 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,225,000 after acquiring an additional 10,045 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $240.20 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.05 and a one year high of $258.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.03 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $234.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $206.83.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Baird R W raised 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 company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday.

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.