Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $2.68 Million Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,934 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 705 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,677,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 127.2% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 184 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management lifted its stake in VeriSign by 69.8% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $233.56 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $22.09 billion, a PE ratio of 29.20 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $222.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $199.67. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.04 and a one year high of $242.23.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

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.