Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Raises Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 77.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,048 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 24,825 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 0.06% of VeriSign worth $14,483,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth $222,840,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 695,102 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised 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 acquiring an additional 504,748 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc raised 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 acquiring 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% 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 acquiring an additional 403,760 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

VeriSign Price Performance

VeriSign stock traded up $2.57 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $283.43. 359,441 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 755,026. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $280.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $252.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.65 and a beta of 0.78. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $172.49 and a 1 year high of $291.54.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 negative return on equity of 41.37% and a net margin of 50.23%. The business had revenue of $402.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $400.44 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.92 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.35, for a total transaction of $562,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 515,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $145,112,452.20. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $287.10, for a total value of $143,837.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 37,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,843,479.90. This trade represents a 1.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,004 shares of company stock worth $11,278,592 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VRSN. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised 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.