Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Grows Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 10.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,284,759 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 116,833 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned approximately 1.34% of VeriSign worth $265,894,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in VeriSign by 544.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $81,003,000 after buying an additional 330,561 shares during the last quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 3,996.0% during the fourth quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC now owns 4,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $848,000 after acquiring an additional 3,996 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in VeriSign by 322.2% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,639,000 after purchasing an additional 199,583 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 20,462 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,235,000 after purchasing an additional 2,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC increased its position in VeriSign by 602.6% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 11,712 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,225,000 after purchasing an additional 10,045 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $250.92 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.37 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $230.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $204.56. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.05 and a twelve month high of $256.35.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st.

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.