VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stake Cut by OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp decreased its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 25.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,131 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,456 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp's holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,097,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Berkshire Hathaway Inc increased its position in VeriSign by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 13,271,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,746,661,000 after purchasing an additional 455,844 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,701,154 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $352,071,000 after purchasing an additional 35,326 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $273,853,000 after buying an additional 229,311 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 10.0% in 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 buying an additional 116,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 403,760 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were 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 $1,059,955.65. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP John Calys sold 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.97, for a total value of $112,788.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,335 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,579,769.95. This represents a 1.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,447 shares of company stock valued at $386,654. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on VRSN shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Citigroup raised their price objective on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped 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.

VeriSign Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of VRSN traded down $0.34 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $282.03. The company had a trading volume of 296,253 shares, compared to its average volume of 887,203. The stock has a market cap of $26.48 billion, a PE ratio of 35.25 and a beta of 0.80. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $256.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $224.44. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $168.79 and a 1-year high of $288.95.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.92 EPS.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

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

VeriSign 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.