Meitav Investment House Ltd. Invests $2.38 Million in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Meitav Investment House Ltd. acquired a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 10,666 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,445,949 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,323,807,000 after purchasing an additional 59,957 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in VeriSign by 6.9% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,152,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,934,092,000 after acquiring an additional 587,635 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in VeriSign by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,693,236 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $780,492,000 after acquiring an additional 57,748 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,183,090 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $672,682,000 after acquiring an additional 97,700 shares during the period. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 3,142,298 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $664,062,000 after purchasing an additional 65,960 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.33, for a total transaction of $25,041.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 24,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,962,374.43. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Timothy Tomlinson sold 589 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.85, for a total value of $115,355.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,937,750. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.33, for a total transaction of $25,041.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,962,374.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,214 shares of company stock valued at $242,872. 0.94% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup cut their target price on VeriSign from $252.00 to $249.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 6th.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of VRSN opened at $206.55 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $21.30 billion, a PE ratio of 29.42 and a beta of 0.94. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $188.44 and a 1 year high of $229.72. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $204.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $212.02.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 26th. The information services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $376.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $378.31 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 45.68% and a net margin of 49.38%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.58 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 7.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 the 13 internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which supports global e-commerce.