American Century Companies Inc. Buys 12,521 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 72.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 29,867 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,521 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $5,310,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 2,311 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $476,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 31.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 142,422 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,333,000 after acquiring an additional 33,760 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 115,013 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $23,688,000 after acquiring an additional 12,857 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 96.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,067 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $632,000 after acquiring an additional 1,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 333.1% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 24,502 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,046,000 after acquiring an additional 18,844 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

VeriSign Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $183.88 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $220.91. The stock has a market cap of $18.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.59 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s fifty day moving average is $180.78 and its 200 day moving average is $180.13.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The information services provider reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $387.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $385.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.79 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis.

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.