Bank of New York Mellon Corp Raises Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 652,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,684 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $115,987,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth $207,161,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 793,507 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $150,376,000 after acquiring an additional 49,967 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 94.7% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 643,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $121,888,000 after purchasing an additional 312,882 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 38.9% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 546,308 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $103,531,000 after purchasing an additional 153,035 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 462,829 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $95,324,000 after purchasing an additional 2,706 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $181.74 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $18.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.33 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $178.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.75. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $167.04 and a 52-week high of $220.91.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The information services provider reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $387.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $385.80 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 55.40% and a negative return on equity of 46.63%. VeriSign’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.79 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 3,684 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $699,960.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 37,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,177,060. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.