Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Sells 26,595 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. cut its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 474,554 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 26,595 shares during the quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned 0.49% of VeriSign worth $98,214,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of VRSN. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,701,154 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $352,071,000 after purchasing an additional 35,326 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,284,759 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $265,894,000 after acquiring an additional 116,833 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $222,840,000. Troy Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in VeriSign by 49.1% during the 4th quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd now owns 914,543 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $189,274,000 after purchasing an additional 301,267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 702,055 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $148,604,000 after acquiring an additional 106,094 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN traded up $2.97 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $254.33. 501,518 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 745,994. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $241.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $212.80. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.05 and a one year high of $258.67. The company has a market cap of $23.94 billion, a PE ratio of 31.76 and a beta of 0.87.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%.

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.