Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Grows Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 45,290 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $9,373,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,960 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $406,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $674,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,429 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $250.92 on Monday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.05 and a 1 year high of $256.35. The firm has a market cap of $23.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.37 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $230.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $204.71.

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

About VeriSign

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.