Barclays PLC Buys 26,852 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Barclays PLC boosted its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 10.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 287,298 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 26,852 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.30% of VeriSign worth $59,459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in VeriSign by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,960 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $406,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in VeriSign by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $674,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its stake in VeriSign by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,469 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,429 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN traded up $3.80 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $245.14. 57,421 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 743,013. The company's fifty day moving average price is $241.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $212.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.07 billion, a PE ratio of 30.67 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $167.05 and a fifty-two week high of $258.67.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th.

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.