Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Has $27.56 Million Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 133,146 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,781 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $27,556,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 127.2% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 184 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management grew its position in VeriSign by 69.8% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $248.13 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $228.68 and a 200-day moving average of $203.56. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.05 and a twelve month high of $249.01. The firm has a market cap of $23.47 billion, a PE ratio of 31.02 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 for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About VeriSign

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.