Summit Global Investments Makes New Investment in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Summit Global Investments purchased a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,593 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $537,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VRSN. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its position in VeriSign by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $304,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 89.5% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 155,551 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $32,193,000 after purchasing an additional 73,463 shares during the last quarter. Generali Investments Management Co LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,181,000. GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at $20,420,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth $182,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

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

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $245.36 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $23.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.67 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.05 and a 12 month high of $247.30. The company has a 50-day moving average of $227.18 and a 200-day moving average of $202.79.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th.

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.