Pitcairn Co. Sells 67 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Pitcairn Co. trimmed its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,336 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 67 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $276,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. World Investment Advisors bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at $205,000. Bryce Point Capital LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $860,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 117,807 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,381,000 after buying an additional 15,765 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 39.9% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth approximately $54,000. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $240.20 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $22.72 billion, a PE ratio of 30.03 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.05 and a one year high of $258.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $234.69 and a 200-day moving average of $207.20.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VRSN. StockNews.com upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their price target on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

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.