VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Sold by Rhumbline Advisers

Rhumbline Advisers decreased its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 245,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,131 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.26% of VeriSign worth $50,856,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its stake in VeriSign by 93.2% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 226 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management lifted its stake in VeriSign by 69.8% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the third quarter valued at about $76,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 138.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 420 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN opened at $229.24 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $209.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $192.35. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $230.30. The firm has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.66 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 the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 44.06% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.