Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Buys 90 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 3.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,828 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 90 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP raised its stake in VeriSign by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP now owns 881,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $156,707,000 after acquiring an additional 48,344 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 793,507 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $150,376,000 after buying an additional 49,967 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 660,191 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $117,382,000 after buying an additional 17,018 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in VeriSign by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 652,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $115,987,000 after buying an additional 3,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in VeriSign by 38.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 153,035 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Stock Down 0.7 %

VRSN opened at $181.22 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $167.04 and a 52 week high of $220.91. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $180.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.41. The company has a market capitalization of $17.69 billion, a PE ratio of 22.26 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 3,684 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $699,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 37,774 shares in the company, valued at $7,177,060. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 16th.

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.