Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Has $17.95 Million Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ decreased its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 22.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 87,519 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 25,800 shares during the quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $17,951,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VRSN. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth $141,129,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in VeriSign by 544.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $81,003,000 after buying an additional 330,561 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in VeriSign by 322.2% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,639,000 after buying an additional 199,583 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in VeriSign in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,665,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in VeriSign by 56.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 383,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $79,286,000 after buying an additional 138,796 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VRSN. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $233.56 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $167.04 and a fifty-two week high of $242.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $222.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $199.67. The company has a market cap of $22.09 billion, a PE ratio of 29.20 and a beta of 0.87.

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

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.