Victory Capital Management Inc. Lowers Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Victory Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 42.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 60,211 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 43,899 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.06% of VeriSign worth $12,461,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 8.0% during 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 buying an additional 42,465 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $90,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in VeriSign by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,512 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $313,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 381.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 380 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $402,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $222.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $199.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.45 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 directly owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.