Candriam S.C.A. Has $1.89 Million Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Candriam S.C.A. grew its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 13.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,129 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,101 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.'s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,889,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VRSN. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 693,369 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $131,712,000 after acquiring an additional 47,412 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new position in VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth $141,129,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 26.3% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 580,613 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $110,293,000 after buying an additional 120,958 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 570,016 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $117,971,000 after buying an additional 42,465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 428,647 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $81,426,000 after buying an additional 46,677 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com downgraded VeriSign from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares of the company's stock, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.9 %

VRSN stock traded down $2.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $233.56. 593,943 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 809,880. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $222.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $199.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.09 billion, a PE ratio of 29.20 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $167.04 and a 1-year high of $242.23.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 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.