Allstate Corp acquired a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,617 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $542,000.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Troy Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 49.1% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. DnB Asset Management AS raised its stake in VeriSign by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 15,210 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,148,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. denkapparat Operations GmbH purchased a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $239,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted 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 worth $2,017,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 45,290 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,373,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.
VeriSign Price Performance
Shares of VRSN traded down $15.23 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $240.20. The stock had a trading volume of 1,875,315 shares, compared to its average volume of 731,999. The stock's 50 day moving average is $234.69 and its 200 day moving average is $207.20. The firm has a market cap of $22.72 billion, a PE ratio of 30.03 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.05 and a 1 year high of $258.67.
VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share 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%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research analysts recently commented on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday.
View Our Latest Research Report on VRSN
Insider Buying and Selling
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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
VeriSign Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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