Waddell & Associates LLC Buys New Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Waddell & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 1,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VRSN. IHT Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 66.1% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,895 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 754 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 78.2% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 10,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,952,000 after buying an additional 4,508 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $792,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 35.5% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 72,924 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,853,000 after purchasing an additional 19,111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 602.6% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 11,712 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,225,000 after purchasing an additional 10,045 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $235.49 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $22.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.44 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $167.05 and a fifty-two week high of $258.67. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $236.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $208.14.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 insiders.

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