Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Buys 18,270 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 392,098 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,270 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.40% of VeriSign worth $69,717,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 291.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 176 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 117.2% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 202 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter worth approximately $38,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 55.7% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 327 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 3,684 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $699,960.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, June 16th.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $186.19 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $167.04 and a fifty-two week high of $220.91. The firm has a market cap of $18.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.87 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $180.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $180.15.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly 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. VeriSign had a net margin of 55.40% and a negative return on equity of 46.63%. The business had revenue of $387.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $385.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.79 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

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.