Hutchinson Capital Management CA Trims Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Hutchinson Capital Management CA lowered its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 77,106 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,889 shares during the period. VeriSign comprises approximately 3.0% of Hutchinson Capital Management CA’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Hutchinson Capital Management CA’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $15,958,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Amundi raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 702,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $148,604,000 after purchasing an additional 106,094 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 7.3% during the third 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. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth approximately $141,129,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 26.3% during the third 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. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 570,016 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $117,971,000 after purchasing an additional 42,465 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup upped their price objective on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com lowered VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $238.35 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $223.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $200.20. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $167.04 and a 1-year high of $242.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.55 billion, a PE ratio of 29.79 and a beta of 0.87.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

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.