Xponance Inc. Cuts Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Xponance Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 596 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 52.0% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 152 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 3.6% during the third quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $349,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in VeriSign by 0.8% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 8,571 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,736,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in VeriSign by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,262,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 5.6% during the third quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 1,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.21, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,875 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.19, for a total value of $558,296.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,999,500.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,877 shares of company stock valued at $2,878,864 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $184.74 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.33 and a beta of 0.88. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $181.57 and a 1 year high of $229.72. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $190.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $200.63.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $380.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $381.01 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 46.56% and a net margin of 54.74%. As a group, analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 7.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd.

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.