VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Purchased by Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 10.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,284,759 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 116,833 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $265,894,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Algert Global LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 18.5% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 3,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $694,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 17.0% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 5,799 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,102,000 after acquiring an additional 844 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,444,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 71.5% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 71,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,609,000 after acquiring an additional 29,876 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Trust Co boosted its position in VeriSign by 27.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 1,477 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VRSN. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com cut VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup lifted 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $250.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $23.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.37 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.05 and a one year high of $256.35. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $230.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $204.56.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.