Morningstar Investment Management LLC Buys Shares of 995 VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Morningstar Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 995 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Financial Mangement LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 181,746 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,614,000 after buying an additional 11,198 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 33,853 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,006,000 after buying an additional 5,486 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 270.5% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 55,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,532,000 after buying an additional 40,680 shares during the period. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $214,000. Finally, Convergence Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,851,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $231.73 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $210.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $192.94. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.04 and a 12 month high of $232.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.92 billion, a PE ratio of 28.97 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on VRSN shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th.

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.