VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Sold by Bleakley Financial Group LLC

Bleakley Financial Group LLC reduced its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 998 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 96 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in VeriSign by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 693,369 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $131,712,000 after purchasing an additional 47,412 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 26.3% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 580,613 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $110,293,000 after buying an additional 120,958 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in VeriSign by 1.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 527,551 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $100,214,000 after acquiring an additional 9,574 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 428,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $81,426,000 after purchasing an additional 46,677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in VeriSign by 544.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $81,003,000 after buying an additional 330,561 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on VRSN shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $227.49 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $21.86 billion, a PE ratio of 28.44 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $228.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $206.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $191.47.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced 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 44.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company 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.