Verisign, Inc. (VRSN): Hedge Funds and Insiders Are Bearish, What Should You Do?

Page 1 of 2

Verisign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) was in 40 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. VRSN investors should pay attention to a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money of late. There were 56 hedge funds in our database with VRSN positions at the end of the previous quarter.

Verisign Inc (NASDAQ:VRSN)At the moment, there are dozens of gauges shareholders can use to watch the equity markets. A couple of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite hedge fund managers can beat the S&P 500 by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Just as important, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the investments you’re interested in. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of stimuli for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a gander at the recent action encompassing Verisign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN).

What does the smart money think about Verisign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 40 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -29% from the previous quarter.

Seeing as Verisign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) has experienced bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there were a few hedge funds that slashed their full holdings at the end of the first quarter. At the top of the heap, John Griffin’s Blue Ridge Capital dropped the biggest position of the “upper crust” of funds we track, comprising about $135.9 million in stock.. James Crichton and Adam Weiss’s fund, Scout Capital Management, also said goodbye to its stock, about $85.4 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 16 funds at the end of the first quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Verisign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time period, Verisign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Verisign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN). These stocks are PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (ADR) (NYSE:TLK), Philippine Long Distance Telephone (ADR) (NYSE:PHI), and KT Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:KT). This group of stocks belong to the telecom services – foreign industry and their market caps resemble VRSN’s market cap.

Page 1 of 2