By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN – Free Report) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,256 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 56 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $674,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CX Institutional increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,429 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 11,053 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,288,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Keystone Financial Services raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Keystone Financial Services now owns 1,137 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $235,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $647,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several research firms have weighed in on VRSN. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target 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.
View Our Latest Analysis on VeriSign
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.
VeriSign Stock Down 1.5 %
NASDAQ VRSN opened at $250.92 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $230.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $204.39. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.05 and a twelve month high of $256.35. The company has a market capitalization of $23.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.37 and a beta of 0.87.
VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.
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.
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