Lazard Asset Management LLC Raises Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 13.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,414 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 758 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,327,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $222,840,000. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $141,129,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc raised its position in VeriSign by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 13,271,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,746,661,000 after purchasing an additional 455,844 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in VeriSign by 58.2% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,097,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $227,062,000 after purchasing an additional 403,760 shares during the period. Finally, Troy Asset Management Ltd raised its position in VeriSign by 49.1% during the fourth quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd now owns 914,543 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $189,274,000 after purchasing an additional 301,267 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN opened at $283.14 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $26.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.39 and a beta of 0.80. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $256.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $224.44. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $168.79 and a one year high of $288.95.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%. The firm had revenue of $402.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $400.44 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.92 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.65%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.79, for a total transaction of $170,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,735 shares in the company, valued at $1,059,955.65. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,447 shares of company stock valued at $386,654 over the last quarter. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.