BankPlus Trust Department Takes Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 238 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $49,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 693,369 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $131,712,000 after acquiring an additional 47,412 shares during the period. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new position in VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth $141,129,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 26.3% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 580,613 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $110,293,000 after buying an additional 120,958 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 527,551 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $100,214,000 after buying an additional 9,574 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 428,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $81,426,000 after buying an additional 46,677 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Up 2.2 %

VRSN opened at $238.24 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $213.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $194.95. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $167.04 and a 52 week high of $239.05. The company has a market capitalization of $22.54 billion, a PE ratio of 29.78 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VRSN. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign 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.