Norinchukin Bank The Grows Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Norinchukin Bank The grew its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,680 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 255 shares during the quarter. Norinchukin Bank The’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $762,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in VeriSign by 5.7% in the third quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 69,175 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,066,000 after acquiring an additional 3,760 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $130,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 54.8% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 27,175 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,162,000 after purchasing an additional 9,619 shares in the last quarter. Tri Ri Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in VeriSign during the third quarter valued at approximately $5,204,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign by 59.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 102,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,224,000 after buying an additional 38,036 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on VRSN. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th.

VeriSign Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of VRSN opened at $248.08 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $241.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $212.54. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.05 and a twelve month high of $258.67. The company has a market cap of $23.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.01 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.