Bridgewater Associates LP Raises Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 21.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 167,086 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 29,678 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP owned about 0.17% of VeriSign worth $34,580,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN traded up $0.74 on Friday, reaching $246.67. The company had a trading volume of 628,305 shares, compared to its average volume of 745,039. The company has a market cap of $23.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.83 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $240.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $211.57. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $167.05 and a 52-week high of $258.67.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VRSN. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. StockNews.com upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of 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.