Moors & Cabot Inc. Boosts Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 12.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,597 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $331,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 12,934 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,677,000 after purchasing an additional 705 shares during the last quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI increased its stake in VeriSign by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI now owns 14,595 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,021,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp lifted its position in VeriSign by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 11,053 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,288,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its stake in VeriSign by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 702,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $148,604,000 after buying an additional 106,094 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $391,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird upgraded 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. Finally, Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Stock Up 2.1 %

VeriSign stock opened at $238.35 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $223.32 and a 200-day moving average of $200.20. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $167.04 and a 52-week high of $242.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.79 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Insider Activity at VeriSign

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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.