Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC Reduces Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC decreased its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 21.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,290 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 349 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VRSN. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 127.2% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 184 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 69.8% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.0 %

VeriSign stock opened at $236.54 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $22.38 billion, a PE ratio of 29.57 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $167.04 and a 52-week high of $242.23. The company’s 50 day moving average is $221.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $199.18.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th.

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.