Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Increases Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 131,604 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned 0.14% of VeriSign worth $27,060,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Amundi lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 702,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $148,604,000 after acquiring an additional 106,094 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in VeriSign by 7.3% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 693,369 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $131,712,000 after purchasing an additional 47,412 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at $141,129,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in VeriSign by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 570,016 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $117,971,000 after purchasing an additional 42,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in VeriSign by 544.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $81,003,000 after purchasing an additional 330,561 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, 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 is available through this link. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.5 %

VRSN opened at $250.92 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.37 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $167.05 and a 12-month high of $256.35. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $230.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $204.71.

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

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.