Ninety One SA PTY Ltd Increases Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Ninety One SA PTY Ltd increased its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 103.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,661 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 14,552 shares during the quarter. VeriSign accounts for 1.3% of Ninety One SA PTY Ltd's investment 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 SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Berkshire Hathaway Inc increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 13,271,457 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,746,661,000 after acquiring an additional 455,844 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,701,154 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $352,071,000 after buying an additional 35,326 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,327,130 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $273,853,000 after buying an additional 229,311 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,284,759 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $265,894,000 after buying an additional 116,833 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 58.2% during the fourth 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 5,000 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.40, for a total value of $1,402,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 553,625 shares of the company's stock, valued at $155,236,450. The trade was a 0.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $287.10, for a total transaction of $143,837.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 37,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,843,479.90. This represents a 1.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,004 shares of company stock valued at $7,302,812 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN traded up $2.91 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $289.76. The stock had a trading volume of 694,687 shares, compared to its average volume of 757,052. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $280.88 and a 200-day moving average of $247.94. The company has a market capitalization of $27.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.42 and a beta of 0.78. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $172.49 and a 12-month high of $291.65.

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

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business 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%.

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.