Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Invests $130,000 in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 683 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $130,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Troy Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the second quarter worth $109,040,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 836.8% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 473,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $84,133,000 after acquiring an additional 422,676 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth about $67,914,000. Canoe Financial LP acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,455,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in VeriSign by 44.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 788,687 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $139,771,000 after acquiring an additional 242,884 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $193.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.49 and a beta of 0.92. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $167.04 and a 12-month high of $208.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $186.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.75.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,228 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $233,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 33,593 shares in the company, valued at $6,382,670. The trade was a 3.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,776 shares of company stock valued at $1,102,524. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on VRSN. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price 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 note on Tuesday, December 10th.

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.