Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Makes New Investment in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 683 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $130,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VRSN. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in VeriSign by 291.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 176 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 117.2% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 202 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners raised its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In related news, 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 2,456 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $466,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,821 shares in the company, valued at $6,615,990. This trade represents a 6.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,776 shares of company stock worth $1,102,524 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $193.44 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.04 and a one year high of $208.04. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $186.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $182.75. The company has a market capitalization of $18.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49 and a beta of 0.92.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.06. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 45.59% and a net margin of 55.74%. The business had revenue of $390.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $390.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.83 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on VRSN shares. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th.

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.