Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Reduces Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. trimmed its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 32.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,794 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 20,567 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $9,064,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,960 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $406,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $674,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $304,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,429 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $296,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 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 the business’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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $250.92 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $230.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $204.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.74 billion, a PE ratio of 31.37 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.05 and a one year high of $256.35.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on VRSN shares. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th.

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.