Vontobel Holding Ltd. Grows Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 104,844 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,538 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. owned approximately 0.11% of VeriSign worth $21,699,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners raised its stake in VeriSign by 93.2% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 226 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in VeriSign by 69.8% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in VeriSign during the third quarter valued at $76,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign by 138.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 420 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised 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 report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.0 %

VeriSign stock opened at $229.24 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.66 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $208.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $191.98. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.04 and a 12 month high of $230.30.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 44.06% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About VeriSign

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.