Ibex Investors LLC Buys Shares of 3,500 VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Ibex Investors LLC bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $622,000. VeriSign accounts for about 0.6% of Ibex Investors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $207,161,000. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP now owns 881,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $156,707,000 after buying an additional 48,344 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 793,507 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $150,376,000 after buying an additional 49,967 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 660,191 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $117,382,000 after buying an additional 17,018 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 652,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $115,987,000 after buying an additional 3,684 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 3,684 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 37,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,177,060. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Stock Down 2.0 %

VRSN stock opened at $179.27 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $180.37 and a 200 day moving average of $180.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.50 billion, a PE ratio of 22.02 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $167.04 and a 52 week high of $220.91.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The information services provider reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $387.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.79 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VRSN. StockNews.com cut shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, June 16th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of VeriSign in a report on Thursday, June 27th.

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.