Machina Capital S.A.S. Decreases Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Machina Capital S.A.S. trimmed its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 41.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,477 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,799 shares during the quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S.'s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VRSN. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.9% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $577,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. increased its stake in VeriSign by 3.9% during the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,537 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. CX Institutional lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,429 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Keystone Financial Services grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Keystone Financial Services now owns 1,137 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN traded down $0.94 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $235.60. The company had a trading volume of 712,702 shares, compared to its average volume of 808,455. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $221.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $199.18. The stock has a market cap of $22.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.45 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $167.04 and a 52-week high of $242.23.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 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%.

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.