Pensionfund Sabic Takes $1.35 Million Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Pensionfund Sabic purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,345,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Concord Wealth Partners raised its position in VeriSign by 93.2% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 226 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Tobam increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 61.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tobam now owns 311 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 138.6% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 420 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the 3rd quarter valued at $76,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $210.68 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $190.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $184.66. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $212.10. The company has a market capitalization of $20.25 billion, a PE ratio of 24.50 and a beta of 0.89.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.06. VeriSign had a net margin of 55.74% and a negative return on equity of 45.59%. The business had revenue of $390.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $390.19 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $210.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,228 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $233,320.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,382,670. The trade was a 3.53 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.