VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Acquired by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 232,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 833 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $48,078,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in VeriSign by 544.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $81,003,000 after purchasing an additional 330,561 shares in the last quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 3,996.0% during the fourth quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC now owns 4,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $848,000 after buying an additional 3,996 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 602.6% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 11,712 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,225,000 after acquiring an additional 10,045 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth approximately $989,000. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic acquired a new position in VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,345,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $222.24 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $205.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $190.84. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.04 and a 12 month high of $224.00. The company has a market capitalization of $21.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78 and a beta of 0.90.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 44.06% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VRSN shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th.

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.