FIL Ltd Acquires 1,467 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

FIL Ltd raised its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,359,569 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,467 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd owned about 1.41% of VeriSign worth $281,376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in VeriSign by 127.2% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 184 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management lifted its stake in VeriSign by 69.8% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 253 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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VeriSign Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN traded up $4.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $247.13. 626,259 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 741,250. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $238.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $209.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.89 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.05 and a twelve month high of $258.67.

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

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.