Cerity Partners LLC Takes Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,738 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $564,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 52.0% in the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 152 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 158.6% in the fourth quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 181 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in VeriSign by 91.7% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 347 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 251.5% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 355 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional purchased a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $79,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on VRSN. Citigroup reduced their target price on VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com cut VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.2 %

VRSN opened at $185.55 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $189.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $200.37. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $181.01 and a 12-month high of $229.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.43 and a beta of 0.88.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The information services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.09. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 46.56% and a net margin of 54.74%. The firm had revenue of $380.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $381.01 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 7.82 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the business’s 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 owns 43,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,427,122.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the business’s 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 owns 43,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,427,122.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.21, for a total value of $1,820,617.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 111,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,552,768.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 14,877 shares of company stock worth $2,878,864. 0.94% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.