Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Purchases 1,771 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 29.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,856 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,771 shares during the quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,701,154 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $352,071,000 after buying an additional 35,326 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,284,759 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $265,894,000 after acquiring an additional 116,833 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth $222,840,000. Troy Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 301,267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in VeriSign by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 702,055 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $148,604,000 after purchasing an additional 106,094 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN stock traded up $1.02 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $277.21. The company had a trading volume of 176,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 743,082. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.05 and a 12 month high of $279.94. The firm's fifty day moving average is $244.10 and its 200 day moving average is $214.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.64 and a beta of 0.87.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.10. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%. The firm had revenue of $402.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $400.44 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.92 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a -- dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. VeriSign's payout ratio is 37.65%.

Insider Activity

In other VeriSign 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 approximately $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Citigroup upped 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.

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.