Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Invests $349,000 in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,685 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $349,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 127.2% during the fourth 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 acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.2 %

VRSN opened at $240.47 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.75 billion, a PE ratio of 30.06 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $242.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $220.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $198.24.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share 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%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on VRSN. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.