Hsbc Holdings PLC Cuts Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Hsbc Holdings PLC cut its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 23.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 308,962 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 92,344 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned approximately 0.32% of VeriSign worth $55,063,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in VeriSign by 291.1% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 176 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in VeriSign by 117.2% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 202 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $38,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 55.7% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 327 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VRSN. StockNews.com downgraded shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 16th. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Thursday, June 27th.

VeriSign Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $181.22 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $167.04 and a fifty-two week high of $220.91. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $180.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $180.41. The company has a market cap of $17.69 billion, a PE ratio of 22.26 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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $387.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $385.80 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 55.40% and a negative return on equity of 46.63%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.79 EPS.

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.