USA Financial Formulas Sells 77 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

USA Financial Formulas lessened its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 958 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 77 shares during the quarter. USA Financial Formulas’ holdings in VeriSign were worth $198,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,472,803 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $261,864,000 after purchasing an additional 11,606 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 44.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 788,687 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $139,771,000 after purchasing an additional 242,884 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 693,369 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $131,712,000 after purchasing an additional 47,412 shares during the last quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $109,040,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in VeriSign by 26.3% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 580,613 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $110,293,000 after purchasing an additional 120,958 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $210.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN stock opened at $210.68 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $195.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $186.33. The company has a market capitalization of $20.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.50 and a beta of 0.89. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.04 and a 12 month high of $213.68.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $390.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $390.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.