Capital Fund Management S.A. Sells 9,066 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Capital Fund Management S.A. reduced its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 25.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 26,377 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 9,066 shares during the quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A.'s holdings in VeriSign were worth $5,459,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,701,154 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $352,071,000 after purchasing an additional 35,326 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 116,833 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth approximately $222,840,000. Troy Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 301,267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 702,055 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $148,604,000 after buying an additional 106,094 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 owns 23,735 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN traded up $0.74 during trading on Friday, reaching $246.67. 628,305 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 744,439. The company has a 50-day moving average of $240.43 and a 200-day moving average of $211.15. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $167.05 and a 52-week high of $258.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.83 and a beta of 0.87.

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

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.