Handelsbanken Fonder AB Increases Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 19.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 33,853 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,486 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $7,006,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in VeriSign by 1.9% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $577,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 3.9% during the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its position 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Keystone Financial Services lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Keystone Financial Services now owns 1,137 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $235,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN stock opened at $231.87 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $212.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $193.87. The company has a market capitalization of $21.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.98 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $167.04 and a 1-year high of $236.20.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup lifted their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Company 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.