Forsta AP Fonden Acquires 100 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Forsta AP Fonden raised its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 38,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $7,968,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,429 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in VeriSign by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 36,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,595,000 after buying an additional 3,408 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 206.0% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 53,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,077,000 after buying an additional 36,032 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 35.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 570 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $108,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at $105,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $214.01 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $167.04 and a 1-year high of $216.83. The stock has a market cap of $20.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.88 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $200.91 and a 200-day moving average of $188.76.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $210.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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.