Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 381,970 VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 381,970 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $67,914,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. owned 0.39% of VeriSign as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Palo DS Manager LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at $14,174,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in VeriSign by 51.2% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 330,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,027,000 after purchasing an additional 111,911 shares in the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 21.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 107,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,320,000 after buying an additional 19,215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 133.6% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 37,213 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,052,000 after buying an additional 21,285 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $182.81 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.04 and a 12 month high of $220.91. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $179.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.84 billion, a PE ratio of 22.46 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 3,684 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $699,960.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 37,774 shares in the company, valued at $7,177,060. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. StockNews.com lowered VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, June 16th.

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.