Barclays PLC Trims Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Barclays PLC lessened its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 22.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 260,446 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 77,245 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned about 0.27% of VeriSign worth $49,475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 291.1% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 176 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in VeriSign by 117.2% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 202 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $38,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 93.2% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 226 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at $5,033,391.51. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,228 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $233,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 33,593 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,382,670. This trade represents a 3.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,776 shares of company stock worth $1,102,524 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN traded down $1.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $197.40. 428,517 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 660,810. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $181.94. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $167.04 and a 1-year high of $220.91. The firm has a market cap of $18.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.15 and a beta of 0.92.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.06. VeriSign had a net margin of 55.74% and a negative return on equity of 45.59%. The company had revenue of $390.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $390.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. The business's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday.

VeriSign 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.