VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Acquired by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 19.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,883 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in VeriSign by 94.7% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 643,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $121,888,000 after acquiring an additional 312,882 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 245.4% in the 1st quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 334,652 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $63,420,000 after buying an additional 237,770 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake 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 worth $103,531,000 after purchasing an additional 153,035 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 59.2% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 316,132 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $64,987,000 after buying an additional 117,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 159.1% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 138,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,689,000 after acquiring an additional 85,255 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

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

VeriSign Stock Up 0.7 %

VRSN stock opened at $182.55 on Tuesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $167.04 and a 52-week high of $220.91. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $180.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.43 and a beta of 0.90.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The information services provider reported $2.01 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $385.80 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 55.40% and a negative return on equity of 46.63%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.79 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on VRSN. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 16th.

About VeriSign

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.