VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Position Reduced by Investment Management Corp of Ontario

Investment Management Corp of Ontario cut its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 34.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,416 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 6,516 shares during the quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario's holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Berkshire Hathaway Inc grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 455,844 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,701,154 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $352,071,000 after acquiring an additional 35,326 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,327,130 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $273,853,000 after acquiring an additional 229,311 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,284,759 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $265,894,000 after acquiring an additional 116,833 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 58.2% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,097,129 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $227,062,000 after acquiring an additional 403,760 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN traded up $5.24 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $281.64. The stock had a trading volume of 794,161 shares, compared to its average volume of 755,693. The company has a market capitalization of $26.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.21 and a beta of 0.80. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $168.51 and a 1-year high of $288.95. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $254.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $222.36.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.10. The company had revenue of $402.30 million during 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 business's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.92 earnings per share.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a -- dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.65%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.79, for a total transaction of $170,274.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,735 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,059,955.65. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,447 shares of company stock valued at $386,654. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.