Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Acquires 377 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,746 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,017,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at $222,840,000. Amundi grew its position in VeriSign by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 702,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $148,604,000 after buying an additional 106,094 shares in the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth $141,129,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in VeriSign by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 570,016 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $117,971,000 after buying an additional 42,465 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in VeriSign by 544.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 330,561 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com downgraded VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $255.50 on Thursday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.05 and a 1 year high of $257.70. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $233.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $206.09. The company has a market capitalization of $24.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.94 and a beta of 0.87.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 EPS 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 Activity 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 value of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the sale, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is owned by 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.