TD Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

TD Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 10.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 669,954 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 76,482 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $138,654,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,960 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $406,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in VeriSign by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $674,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. CX Institutional raised its holdings in VeriSign by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 4.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,429 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $245.81 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $167.05 and a fifty-two week high of $247.47. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $227.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $203.24. The stock has a market cap of $23.25 billion, a PE ratio of 30.73 and a beta of 0.87.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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.