National Bank of Canada FI Purchases 19,111 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 35.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 72,924 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,111 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned 0.08% of VeriSign worth $13,853,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Empirical Finance LLC increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1.9% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. increased its position in VeriSign by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 4.0% during the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,852 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 6.7% in the second quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,172 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $208,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 5.6% in the second quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VRSN. StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. 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. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 2,456 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $466,640.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,821 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,615,990. This trade represents a 6.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,776 shares of company stock worth $1,102,524. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $200.53 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.04 and a 1 year high of $220.91. The company has a market cap of $19.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.32 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $185.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.49.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.06. VeriSign had a net margin of 55.74% and a negative return on equity of 45.59%. The business had revenue of $390.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $390.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

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.