Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Buys Shares of 2,333 VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,333 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $483,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VRSN. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in VeriSign by 544.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $81,003,000 after purchasing an additional 330,561 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the third quarter worth about $46,455,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in VeriSign during the third quarter worth approximately $35,665,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 56.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 383,100 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $79,286,000 after buying an additional 138,796 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 26.3% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 580,613 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $110,293,000 after buying an additional 120,958 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $227.49. 932,649 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 747,277. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $228.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $206.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $191.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.44 and a beta of 0.90.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 44.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on VRSN shares. StockNews.com upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup upped their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

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.