98,665 Shares in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Bought by GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd

GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd bought a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 98,665 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $20,420,000. VeriSign accounts for 7.2% of GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth $182,000. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at $225,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 30.7% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,399 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 147,002 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,424,000 after buying an additional 1,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Choate Investment Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at $216,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $239.82 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $224.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $201.12. The firm has a market cap of $22.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.98 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.05 and a 12 month high of $242.23.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the transaction, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup raised their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

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.