Bank of America Corp DE Raises Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 276,060 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,628 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE owned 0.29% of VeriSign worth $57,133,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Berkshire Hathaway Inc increased its stake in VeriSign by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 13,271,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,746,661,000 after buying an additional 455,844 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,701,154 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $352,071,000 after purchasing an additional 35,326 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,327,130 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $273,853,000 after purchasing an additional 229,311 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,284,759 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $265,894,000 after purchasing an additional 116,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at about $222,840,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other news, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.79, for a total transaction of $170,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,059,955.65. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on 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. The trade was a 1.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,447 shares of company stock valued at $386,654 over the last ninety days. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $275.95 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $168.51 and a 12 month high of $288.95. The company has a market cap of $25.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.49 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $254.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $221.98.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%. The company had revenue of $402.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $400.44 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.92 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 37.65%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup increased 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. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th.

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.