First Hawaiian Bank Invests $212,000 in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,118 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Morgan Stanley increased its position in VeriSign by 14.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,826,836 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $369,989,000 after buying an additional 233,811 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in VeriSign by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,056,995 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $214,073,000 after acquiring an additional 44,080 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth approximately $207,161,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 3.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 22,796 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 17.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 660,463 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $133,764,000 after purchasing an additional 96,676 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 16th. Citigroup cut their price target on VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on VeriSign from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN stock opened at $181.69 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $175.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $190.43. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.04 and a one year high of $226.80. The company has a market capitalization of $18.10 billion, a PE ratio of 22.32 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 614 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $116,660.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,088,110. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 614 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $116,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,088,110. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.14, for a total transaction of $204,168.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,181 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,855.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 3,295 shares of company stock valued at $584,887. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.