Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Sells 80 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,831 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 80 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $586,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth approximately $141,129,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 330,561 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 322.2% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,639,000 after acquiring an additional 199,583 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the third quarter valued at $35,665,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 56.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 383,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $79,286,000 after purchasing an additional 138,796 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $254.74 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $24.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.84 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $167.05 and a 12-month high of $256.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $229.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $203.91.

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, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate 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.