VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Purchased by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 3.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 91,916 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,446 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned 0.10% of VeriSign worth $22,917,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VRSN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at about $222,840,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 34,326.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 697,127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $176,980,000 after purchasing an additional 695,102 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 268.8% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 692,498 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $143,319,000 after buying an additional 504,748 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 13,271,457 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,746,661,000 after buying an additional 455,844 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 58.2% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,097,129 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $227,062,000 after buying an additional 403,760 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.79, for a total value of $170,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,735 shares in the company, valued at $1,059,955.65. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.71, for a total transaction of $1,383,550.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 544,772 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $150,743,860.12. The trade was a 0.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,004 shares of company stock valued at $9,305,492 over the last quarter. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN stock traded down $1.95 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $283.35. 213,672 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 841,917. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $281.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $248.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.66 and a beta of 0.78. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $172.49 and a 12-month high of $291.54.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.10. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 41.37% and a net margin of 50.23%. The company had revenue of $402.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $400.44 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.92 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a -- dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th.

VeriSign Company 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.