Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Makes New $402,000 Investment in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,940 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $402,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 127.2% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 184 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 69.8% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $237.88 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $239.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $216.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $196.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,033,391.51. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 firm’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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

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.