VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Bought by Natixis

Natixis raised its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 369.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 63,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 49,973 shares during the quarter. Natixis owned 0.06% of VeriSign worth $12,034,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at $207,161,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 772,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $159,069,000 after buying an additional 22,796 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 94.7% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 643,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $121,888,000 after buying an additional 312,882 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 38.9% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 546,308 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $103,531,000 after buying an additional 153,035 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 462,829 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $95,324,000 after buying an additional 2,706 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 16th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Thursday, June 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 866 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.01, for a total value of $147,228.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $622,406.61. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 1,200 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.14, for a total value of $204,168.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,855.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 866 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.01, for a total value of $147,228.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,661 shares in the company, valued at $622,406.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,067 shares of company stock worth $351,567 in the last 90 days. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VeriSign stock traded up $1.77 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $176.74. 1,477,697 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 666,784. The company has a market capitalization of $17.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.50 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $176.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.51. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.04 and a 1 year high of $220.91.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $384.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $381.85 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 47.21% and a net margin of 55.04%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.70 EPS.

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.