Generali Investments Management Co LLC Cuts Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Generali Investments Management Co LLC reduced its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 41.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,186 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 4,352 shares during the quarter. Generali Investments Management Co LLC's holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,570,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at about $222,840,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 34,326.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 697,127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $176,980,000 after buying an additional 695,102 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at about $141,129,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in VeriSign by 268.8% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 692,498 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $143,319,000 after buying an additional 504,748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Berkshire Hathaway Inc raised its stake in VeriSign by 3.6% in 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. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.40, for a total value of $1,402,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 553,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $155,236,450. The trade was a 0.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.44, for a total value of $137,995.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 39,272 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,817,079.68. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,002 shares of company stock valued at $2,525,659. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on VRSN shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th.

VeriSign Trading Up 2.6%

VRSN stock traded up $7.13 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $285.02. The stock had a trading volume of 670,867 shares, compared to its average volume of 757,196. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $266.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $233.66. The company has a market cap of $26.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.63 and a beta of 0.77. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $172.49 and a 52-week high of $288.95.

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

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a -- dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.