VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Acquired by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 170.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,705 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 14,933 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in VeriSign were worth $4,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. West Tower Group LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in VeriSign by 52.0% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 152 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC increased its stake in VeriSign by 2,628.6% during the second quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 191 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VRSN. Citigroup lowered their price objective on VeriSign from $238.00 to $237.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 12th. StockNews.com upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.00, for a total transaction of $25,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,906 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,876,824. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.00, for a total transaction of $25,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,906 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,876,824. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.21, for a total value of $1,820,617.83. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 111,551 shares in the company, valued at $21,552,768.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,512 shares of company stock valued at $4,427,782 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.94% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.2 %

VRSN stock traded up $0.41 during trading on Friday, reaching $189.51. 618,096 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 588,352. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $185.19 and a 1-year high of $229.72. The company's fifty day moving average price is $195.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $202.35. The firm has a market cap of $19.12 billion, a PE ratio of 23.93 and a beta of 0.88.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The information services provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.09. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 46.56% and a net margin of 54.74%. The company had revenue of $380.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $381.01 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 7.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About VeriSign

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.