CIBC Asset Management Inc Boosts Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,230 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 423 shares during the quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 7.3% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 693,369 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $131,712,000 after buying an additional 47,412 shares during the period. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth about $141,129,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 26.3% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 580,613 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $110,293,000 after buying an additional 120,958 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 1.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 527,551 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $100,214,000 after buying an additional 9,574 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 12.2% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 428,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $81,426,000 after buying an additional 46,677 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on VRSN shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. 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 Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $233.88 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $234.28. The firm has a market cap of $22.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.24 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day moving average of $210.95 and a 200 day moving average of $193.21.

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, 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

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company 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.