Convergence Investment Partners LLC Takes $1.85 Million Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Convergence Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake 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 (SEC). The firm acquired 8,942 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,851,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at about $141,129,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 544.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $81,003,000 after acquiring an additional 330,561 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,455,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 322.2% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,639,000 after acquiring an additional 199,583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,665,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on VRSN shares. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of 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 raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $231.18 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $209.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $192.64. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.04 and a 1 year high of $232.04. The company has a market cap of $21.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.90 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Insider Activity

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