Gries Financial LLC Purchases 317 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Gries Financial LLC grew its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 24.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the period. Gries Financial LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $335,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in VeriSign by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 693,369 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $131,712,000 after acquiring an additional 47,412 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 26.3% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 580,613 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $110,293,000 after purchasing an additional 120,958 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 1.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 527,551 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $100,214,000 after purchasing an additional 9,574 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in VeriSign by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 428,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $81,426,000 after buying an additional 46,677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in VeriSign by 544.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $81,003,000 after buying an additional 330,561 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $214.01 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $200.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $188.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.88 and a beta of 0.89. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $167.04 and a 52 week high of $216.83.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on VeriSign from $210.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,033,391.51. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.