Van ECK Associates Corp Cuts Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Van ECK Associates Corp reduced its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 30,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,012 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $6,331,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 4,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $844,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares in the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 2,311 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at $4,032,000. Addison Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 66.0% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 1,205 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 7,351 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,514,000 after purchasing an additional 2,185 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.0 %

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $168.32 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $229.72. The company has a market cap of $16.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.68 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $198.68.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.06. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 47.21% and a net margin of 55.04%. The business had revenue of $384.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $381.85 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on VRSN shares. StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 614 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $116,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,955 shares in the company, valued at $7,971,450. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $119,737.29. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,143 shares in the company, valued at $8,427,122.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 614 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $116,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 41,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,971,450. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,752 shares of company stock worth $2,853,989. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

VeriSign 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.