KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Acquires Shares of 107,680 VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 107,680 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $22,285,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VRSN. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 2.5% in the 4th 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 during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 1.8% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% in the fourth 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 during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 4.6% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,429 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VRSN. Citigroup increased 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. Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com downgraded VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $244.51 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $167.05 and a 52-week high of $245.67. The firm has a market cap of $23.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.56 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s fifty day moving average is $226.47 and its 200-day moving average is $202.24.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company 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.