Allianz SE Buys New Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Allianz SE purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,922 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,420,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allstate Corp acquired a new position in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $542,000. Troy Asset Management Ltd grew its position in VeriSign by 49.1% during the fourth quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd now owns 914,543 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $189,274,000 after buying an additional 301,267 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS raised its holdings in VeriSign by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 15,210 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,148,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. denkapparat Operations GmbH acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth approximately $239,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 9,746 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,017,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered VeriSign from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:VRSN traded up $0.85 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $256.35. 322,337 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 721,006. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $167.05 and a fifty-two week high of $257.70. The company has a market capitalization of $24.25 billion, a PE ratio of 32.04 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $233.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $206.09.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%.

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.