Prudential PLC Acquires 23,306 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Prudential PLC raised its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 50.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 69,563 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,306 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC owned approximately 0.07% of VeriSign worth $12,368,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in VeriSign by 117.2% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 202 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in VeriSign in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 55.7% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 327 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 3,684 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $699,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 37,774 shares in the company, valued at $7,177,060. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of VeriSign in a report on Thursday, June 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, June 16th.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $181.96 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $179.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $181.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.35 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $167.04 and a 52-week high of $220.91.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The information services provider reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.08. VeriSign had a net margin of 55.40% and a negative return on equity of 46.63%. The business had revenue of $387.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $385.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.79 earnings per share. VeriSign’s revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis.

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.