APG Asset Management US Inc. Makes New $572,000 Investment in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

APG Asset Management US Inc. bought a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 2,765 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $572,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at $222,840,000. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $141,129,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 544.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $81,003,000 after purchasing an additional 330,561 shares in the last quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in VeriSign by 49.1% in the fourth quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd now owns 914,543 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $189,274,000 after buying an additional 301,267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 322.2% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,639,000 after buying an additional 199,583 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $244.63 on Thursday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.05 and a 1 year high of $258.67. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $237.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $208.82. The company has a market cap of $23.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.58 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign 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.