Everence Capital Management Inc. Purchases 1,430 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 93.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,960 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,430 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $610,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,445,949 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,323,807,000 after purchasing an additional 59,957 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,152,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,934,092,000 after purchasing an additional 587,635 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,693,236 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $780,492,000 after purchasing an additional 57,748 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,826,836 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $369,989,000 after purchasing an additional 233,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,484,066 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $330,145,000 after purchasing an additional 13,379 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VRSN. Citigroup reduced their price target on VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $181.57 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.18 billion, a PE ratio of 22.93 and a beta of 0.88. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $181.57 and a 12 month high of $229.72. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $191.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $201.06.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.21, for a total value of $1,820,617.83. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 111,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,552,768.71. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.21, for a total value of $1,820,617.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 111,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,552,768.71. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,875 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.19, for a total value of $558,296.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 30,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,999,500.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,877 shares of company stock valued at $2,878,864 in the last 90 days. 0.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.