C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors Purchases Shares of 681,912 VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 681,912 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $141,129,000. VeriSign comprises 6.6% of C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors owned about 0.71% of VeriSign as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in VeriSign by 67.5% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 3,086 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 3rd quarter valued at about $105,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 3,272.7% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,855 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $352,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its holdings in VeriSign by 40.0% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 16,984 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,226,000 after acquiring an additional 4,850 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. raised its position in VeriSign by 922.9% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,360 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after acquiring an additional 4,836 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $227.49 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.44 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $206.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $191.47. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.04 and a 1 year high of $228.45.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 44.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on VRSN shares. 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 research report on Monday, December 9th. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.