Caxton Associates LP Grows Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Caxton Associates LP increased its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 225.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,550 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 13,540 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LP's holdings in VeriSign were worth $4,046,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at about $222,840,000. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $141,129,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc increased its holdings in VeriSign by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 13,271,457 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,746,661,000 after buying an additional 455,844 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in VeriSign by 544.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $81,003,000 after acquiring an additional 330,561 shares during the period. Finally, Troy Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 49.1% during the 4th quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd now owns 914,543 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $189,274,000 after acquiring an additional 301,267 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.97, for a total transaction of $112,788.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,335 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,579,769.95. This represents a 1.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.79, for a total value of $170,274.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,735 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,059,955.65. This represents a 13.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,447 shares of company stock valued at $386,654 in the last three months. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup raised their price objective on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of VRSN traded down $3.80 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $281.41. 953,860 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 749,805. The company has a market cap of $26.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.18 and a beta of 0.80. The company's 50-day moving average price is $251.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.78. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $168.51 and a 52-week high of $288.95.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.10. The business had revenue of $402.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $400.44 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%. The business's revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.92 earnings per share.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a -- dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. VeriSign's payout ratio is 37.65%.

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.