VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Position Increased by Vontobel Holding Ltd.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 104,844 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,538 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. owned approximately 0.11% of VeriSign worth $21,699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in VeriSign by 1.9% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $577,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,537 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,429 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,125 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $647,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of VRSN traded up $0.82 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $230.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 370,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 736,076. The company has a fifty day moving average of $209.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $192.64. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $232.04. The company has a market cap of $22.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.75 and a beta of 0.90.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 44.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on VRSN. Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,033,391.51. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

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.