Banque Pictet & Cie SA Purchases 3,173 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA grew its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 8.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 40,282 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,173 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $7,162,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $207,161,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in VeriSign by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 793,507 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $150,376,000 after buying an additional 49,967 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in VeriSign by 94.7% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 643,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $121,888,000 after buying an additional 312,882 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in VeriSign by 38.9% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 546,308 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $103,531,000 after buying an additional 153,035 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in VeriSign by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 462,829 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $95,324,000 after buying an additional 2,706 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN stock traded down $0.75 on Friday, hitting $179.32. 363,290 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 781,350. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $178.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $182.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.50 billion, a PE ratio of 22.03 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $220.91.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The information services provider reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $387.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $385.80 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 55.40% and a negative return on equity of 46.63%. VeriSign’s revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.79 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, June 16th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 3,684 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $699,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 37,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,177,060. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.