BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Invests $720,000 in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,479 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $720,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,701,154 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $352,071,000 after buying an additional 35,326 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,284,759 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $265,894,000 after acquiring an additional 116,833 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $222,840,000. Troy Asset Management Ltd raised its holdings in VeriSign by 49.1% in the 4th quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd now owns 914,543 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $189,274,000 after acquiring an additional 301,267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in VeriSign by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 702,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $148,604,000 after acquiring an additional 106,094 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $251.36 on Thursday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $167.05 and a 52-week high of $258.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.42 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $241.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $212.80.

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

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.