Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Boosts Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 772,330 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 22,796 shares during the quarter. VeriSign makes up approximately 1.6% of Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned approximately 0.76% of VeriSign worth $159,069,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Seven Eight Capital LP raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 41.4% in the third quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 1,888 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 553 shares during the period. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 59.8% in the third quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,746 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,974,000 after purchasing an additional 3,647 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 7.4% in the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 3,623 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $734,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 17.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 660,463 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $133,764,000 after purchasing an additional 96,676 shares during the period. Finally, Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the third quarter valued at about $1,366,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.44, for a total transaction of $25,430.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,761 shares in the company, valued at $4,833,937.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.44, for a total transaction of $25,430.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,761 shares in the company, valued at $4,833,937.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 614 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $116,660.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 42,569 shares in the company, valued at $8,088,110. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,001 shares of company stock worth $4,518,942 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.94% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN stock traded up $0.79 on Friday, hitting $187.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 458,607 shares, compared to its average volume of 554,068. The stock's 50 day moving average is $193.48 and its 200-day moving average is $201.89. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $185.19 and a fifty-two week high of $229.72. The company has a market capitalization of $18.95 billion, a PE ratio of 23.71 and a beta of 0.88.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The information services provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.09. VeriSign had a net margin of 54.74% and a negative return on equity of 46.56%. The business had revenue of $380.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $381.01 million. On average, research analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 7.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of VeriSign from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday.

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.