VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stock Holdings Lifted by Banque Pictet & Cie SA

Banque Pictet & Cie SA lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,984 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $9,310,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 1.9% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. boosted its position in VeriSign by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. CX Institutional grew its stake in VeriSign by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC increased its position in VeriSign by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,429 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $296,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in VeriSign by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $647,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.8 %

VRSN stock opened at $229.34 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $207.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $191.72. The company has a market capitalization of $22.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.67 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $167.04 and a 52 week high of $230.30.

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

Insider Activity

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.