Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Purchases 68 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in 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 valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC increased its stake in VeriSign by 2,628.6% during the second quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 191 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Baldwin Brothers LLC MA increased its stake in VeriSign by 158.6% during the fourth quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 181 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VRSN. Citigroup lowered their price target on VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.3 %

VRSN stock opened at $182.63 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $182.38 and a 1-year high of $229.72. The firm has a market cap of $18.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.06 and a beta of 0.88. The business’s 50 day moving average is $191.59 and its 200-day moving average is $201.20.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The information services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.09. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 46.56% and a net margin of 54.74%. The firm had revenue of $380.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $381.01 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 7.82 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other VeriSign news, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 111,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,552,768.71. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.05, for a total value of $122,017.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 34,816 shares in the company, valued at $6,930,124.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,877 shares of company stock valued at $3,281,564 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

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.