Gateway Advisory LLC Boosts Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Gateway Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 5.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,538 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Gateway Advisory LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $273,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $67,914,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 312,882 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 245.4% during the 1st quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 334,652 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $63,420,000 after purchasing an additional 237,770 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 153,035 shares during the period. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its stake in VeriSign by 235.6% in the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 171,643 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,518,000 after purchasing an additional 120,491 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. StockNews.com cut VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, June 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 3,684 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $699,960.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 37,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,177,060. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.7 %

VRSN stock opened at $182.55 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $180.70 and a 200-day moving average of $180.18. The company has a market cap of $18.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.43 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $167.04 and a 12-month high of $220.91.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The information services provider reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $387.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $385.80 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 55.40%. The business’s revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.79 earnings per share.

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.