Handelsbanken Fonder AB Purchases 26,872 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 142.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,707 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 26,872 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $9,414,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of VRSN. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $587,000 after buying an additional 321 shares during the period. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 1,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 91.7% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 347 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 46.3% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 15,683 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,176,000 after buying an additional 4,962 shares during the period. Finally, Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,439 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $899,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.05, for a total transaction of $122,017.65. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,816 shares in the company, valued at $6,930,124.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.05, for a total value of $122,017.65. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,930,124.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.21, for a total value of $1,820,617.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 111,551 shares in the company, valued at $21,552,768.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,877 shares of company stock worth $2,878,864 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on VRSN. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of VRSN opened at $185.55 on Thursday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $181.01 and a 12-month high of $229.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.43 and a beta of 0.88. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $189.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $200.37.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The information services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.09. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 46.56% and a net margin of 54.74%. The firm had revenue of $380.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $381.01 million. Equities research analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 7.82 EPS for the current year.

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.