BNP Paribas Financial Markets Raises Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 393,273 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 34,795 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned approximately 0.39% of VeriSign worth $80,999,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VRSN. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,662 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,784,000 after purchasing an additional 710 shares during the period. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI now owns 6,671 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,374,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth $382,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in VeriSign by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 462,829 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $95,324,000 after acquiring an additional 2,706 shares during the period. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth $248,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $119,737.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,143 shares in the company, valued at $8,427,122.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 614 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $116,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,955 shares in the company, valued at $7,971,450. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $119,737.29. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,427,122.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,140 shares of company stock worth $2,732,141. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.8 %

VRSN traded up $1.44 during trading on Friday, reaching $171.23. The stock had a trading volume of 613,454 shares, compared to its average volume of 875,245. The stock's 50 day moving average is $184.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.26. The company has a market capitalization of $17.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.04 and a beta of 0.89. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.04 and a one year high of $229.72.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $384.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $381.85 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 47.21% and a net margin of 55.04%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on VRSN. StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on VeriSign from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd.

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.