Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 22.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 631,029 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 178,107 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.66% of VeriSign worth $130,598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in VeriSign by 78.2% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 10,276 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,952,000 after acquiring an additional 4,508 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 602.6% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 11,712 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,225,000 after purchasing an additional 10,045 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 45,048 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,557,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 52.6% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 45,308 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,607,000 after buying an additional 15,626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd increased its position in VeriSign by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 69,175 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,066,000 after buying an additional 3,760 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.
VeriSign Stock Performance
Shares of VRSN stock traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $250.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 117,112 shares, compared to its average volume of 740,537. The stock has a market cap of $23.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.28 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $167.05 and a 52-week high of $258.67. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $239.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $210.52.
VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued 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%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
VRSN has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. 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.
Read Our Latest Report on VRSN
Insider Activity at VeriSign
In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.
VeriSign Company Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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