Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Buys 381 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 33.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,511 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 381 shares during the quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $269,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 2,311 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at $248,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in VeriSign by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 388,400 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $79,996,000 after buying an additional 2,521 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth about $264,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $207,161,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $182.81 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $179.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $180.66. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $167.04 and a 12-month high of $220.91. The firm has a market cap of $17.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.46 and a beta of 0.90.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The information services provider reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.08. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 55.40%. The company had revenue of $387.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $385.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.79 EPS. VeriSign’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on VRSN. StockNews.com lowered VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, June 16th. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of VeriSign in a report on Thursday, June 27th.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

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