VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Purchased by Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 322.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 261,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 199,583 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC owned about 0.27% of VeriSign worth $53,639,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 544.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $81,003,000 after purchasing an additional 330,561 shares during the period. Birch Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 3,996.0% in the fourth quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC now owns 4,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $848,000 after purchasing an additional 3,996 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 602.6% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 11,712 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,225,000 after purchasing an additional 10,045 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $989,000. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,345,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $229.34 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.04 billion, a PE ratio of 28.67 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $167.04 and a 12-month high of $230.30. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $207.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $191.72.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 44.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.