Entropy Technologies LP Cuts Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Entropy Technologies LP trimmed its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 45.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,806 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 693,369 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $131,712,000 after purchasing an additional 47,412 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 26.3% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 580,613 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $110,293,000 after buying an additional 120,958 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 527,551 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $100,214,000 after acquiring an additional 9,574 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 12.2% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 428,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $81,426,000 after acquiring an additional 46,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in VeriSign by 544.1% in the 4th 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 last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $227.38 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.42 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $167.04 and a 1-year high of $227.50. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $205.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $191.16.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 44.06% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup increased 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. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

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.