Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Has $5.55 Million Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. reduced its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,190 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 858 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $5,546,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 2,311 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $476,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth $248,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in VeriSign by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 388,400 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $79,996,000 after acquiring an additional 2,521 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth $264,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in VeriSign by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 88,009 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,708,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on VRSN shares. StockNews.com lowered VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 16th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Thursday, June 27th.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 3,684 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $699,960.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 37,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,177,060. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $182.81 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.04 and a one year high of $220.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $179.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $180.84. The firm has a market cap of $17.84 billion, a PE ratio of 22.46 and a beta of 0.90.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The information services provider reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.08. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 55.40%. The company had revenue of $387.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $385.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.79 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

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.