Commerce Bank Reduces Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Commerce Bank lowered its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 70.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,850 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,423 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $351,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its position in VeriSign by 0.8% in the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,472,803 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $261,864,000 after buying an additional 11,606 shares during the last quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 5.8% during the second quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP now owns 881,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $156,707,000 after purchasing an additional 48,344 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in VeriSign by 44.5% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 788,687 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $139,771,000 after purchasing an additional 242,884 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.6% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 660,191 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $117,382,000 after purchasing an additional 17,018 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 0.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 652,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $115,987,000 after purchasing an additional 3,684 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.8 %

VRSN opened at $185.16 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.04 and a 12 month high of $220.91. The company has a market cap of $17.79 billion, a PE ratio of 21.53 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50 day moving average of $183.87 and a 200 day moving average of $180.27.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $390.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $390.19 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,228 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $233,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 33,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,382,670. The trade was a 3.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.