Whipplewood Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 125 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in VeriSign by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $577,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 3.9% during the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its position in VeriSign by 5.5% during the fourth 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 during the period. Finally, Keystone Financial Services boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $237.88 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.04 and a one year high of $239.95. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $216.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $196.11. The firm 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 results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.