Distillate Capital Partners LLC Invests $14.17 Million in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Distillate Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 79,676 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,166,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.8% in the second quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP now owns 881,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $156,707,000 after purchasing an additional 48,344 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 793,507 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $150,376,000 after purchasing an additional 49,967 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 660,191 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $117,382,000 after purchasing an additional 17,018 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in VeriSign by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 652,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $115,987,000 after buying an additional 3,684 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in VeriSign by 38.9% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 546,308 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $103,531,000 after buying an additional 153,035 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on VRSN shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 16th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of VeriSign in a report on Thursday, June 27th.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $182.55 on Tuesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.04 and a 12 month high of $220.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $180.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $180.18. The firm has a market cap of $18.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.43 and a beta of 0.90.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The information services provider reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $387.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $385.80 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 55.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.79 EPS.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 3,684 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $699,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 37,774 shares in the company, valued at $7,177,060. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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.