Vontobel Holding Ltd. Buys 8,710 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 11.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 85,196 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,710 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. owned 0.08% of VeriSign worth $17,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 130.7% during the fourth quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 14,163 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,919,000 after acquiring an additional 8,024 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 272,103 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $56,042,000 after acquiring an additional 25,639 shares in the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,772,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth $1,112,000. Finally, NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 72,544 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,941,000 after buying an additional 9,888 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.35, for a total transaction of $402,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 500,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,736,613.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.35, for a total transaction of $402,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 500,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,736,613.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $116,660.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 41,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,971,450. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,877 shares of company stock valued at $3,281,564. 0.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on VRSN shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $183.20 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $191.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $201.34. The company has a market cap of $18.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.13 and a beta of 0.88. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $183.12 and a 12-month high of $229.72.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The information services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $380.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $381.01 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 54.74% and a negative return on equity of 46.56%. Analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 7.82 EPS for the current fiscal 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.