Mizuho Securities USA LLC Increases Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 43.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,833 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,390 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC's holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,621,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $141,129,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of 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. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in VeriSign by 322.2% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,526 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $53,639,000 after purchasing an additional 199,583 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,665,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in 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 worth $79,286,000 after acquiring an additional 138,796 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the 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 directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on VRSN shares. StockNews.com downgraded VeriSign from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. 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. Finally, Citigroup lifted 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.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN traded down $3.82 on Friday, hitting $250.92. 746,822 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 722,364. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.37 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $167.05 and a 1-year high of $256.35. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $230.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $204.56.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

VeriSign 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.