VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Acquired by Ninety One SA PTY Ltd

Ninety One SA PTY Ltd grew its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 103.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,661 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 14,552 shares during the quarter. VeriSign comprises about 1.3% of Ninety One SA PTY Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd's holdings in VeriSign were worth $7,239,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth $222,840,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 34,326.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 697,127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $176,980,000 after purchasing an additional 695,102 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 268.8% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 692,498 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $143,319,000 after purchasing an additional 504,748 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 455,844 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 58.2% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,097,129 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $227,062,000 after purchasing an additional 403,760 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.71, for a total value of $1,383,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 544,772 shares in the company, valued at $150,743,860.12. The trade was a 0.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of VeriSign 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 transaction, the director owned 3,735 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,059,955.65. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,004 shares of company stock worth $9,305,492 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of VRSN stock traded down $3.06 on Friday, hitting $282.23. The company had a trading volume of 60,306 shares, compared to its average volume of 754,710. The firm has a market cap of $26.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.50 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $281.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $248.82. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $172.49 and a twelve 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, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.10. The business had revenue of $402.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $400.44 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 41.37% and a net margin of 50.23%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.92 EPS.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on VRSN. Wall Street Zen raised VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st.

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.