VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Sold by Fmr LLC

Fmr LLC reduced its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 647,235 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 29,315 shares during the period. Fmr LLC owned about 0.67% of VeriSign worth $133,952,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth $222,840,000. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth about $141,129,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 544.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $81,003,000 after purchasing an additional 330,561 shares during the last quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd grew its stake in VeriSign by 49.1% during the 4th quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd now owns 914,543 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $189,274,000 after purchasing an additional 301,267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign by 322.2% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,639,000 after purchasing an additional 199,583 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup increased their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $247.13 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.89 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $238.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $209.85. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.05 and a twelve month high of $258.67.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share 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 43.01%.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.