Janus Henderson Group PLC Lowers Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Janus Henderson Group PLC reduced its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,541 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 253 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $3,142,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Hilltop Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in VeriSign during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $515,000. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in VeriSign by 36.0% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 50,838 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,657,000 after acquiring an additional 13,458 shares in the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP lifted its position in VeriSign by 90.9% during the 3rd quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 6,292 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,195,000 after acquiring an additional 2,996 shares in the last quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP lifted its position in VeriSign by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP now owns 8,071 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,533,000 after acquiring an additional 1,063 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new position in VeriSign during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $514,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday.

VeriSign Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of VRSN opened at $200.00 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $185.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.69. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $167.04 and a 52-week high of $220.91. The firm has a market cap of $19.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.25 and a beta of 0.92.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.06. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 45.59% and a net margin of 55.74%. The company had revenue of $390.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $390.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.83 EPS. VeriSign’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 2,456 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $466,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 34,821 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,615,990. This trade represents a 6.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,776 shares of company stock worth $1,102,524. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.