Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. Purchases 14,700 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 94.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 30,200 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,700 shares during the period. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $5,737,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Troy Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth about $109,040,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 836.8% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 473,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $84,133,000 after buying an additional 422,676 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at $67,914,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 94.7% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 643,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $121,888,000 after acquiring an additional 312,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 44.5% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 788,687 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $139,771,000 after purchasing an additional 242,884 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.3 %

VeriSign stock opened at $185.12 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $167.04 and a 52 week high of $220.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $183.92 and a 200-day moving average of $179.78. The stock has a market cap of $18.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.74 and a beta of 0.90.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.06. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 55.40%. The company had revenue of $390.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $390.19 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of VeriSign in a report on Thursday, June 27th.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,228 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $233,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,382,670. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 3,684 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $699,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 37,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,177,060. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $233,320.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,593 shares in the company, valued at $6,382,670. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,368 shares of company stock worth $1,399,920 in the last quarter. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.