Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp Raises Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp increased its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 14.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,754 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 956 shares during the quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,826,836 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $369,989,000 after purchasing an additional 233,811 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at $207,161,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in VeriSign by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 772,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $159,069,000 after purchasing an additional 22,796 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in VeriSign by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 660,463 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $133,764,000 after purchasing an additional 96,676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in VeriSign by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 462,829 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $95,324,000 after purchasing an additional 2,706 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 866 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.01, for a total transaction of $147,228.66. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $622,406.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.14, for a total transaction of $204,168.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,855.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Yehuda Ari Buchalter sold 866 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.01, for a total value of $147,228.66. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $622,406.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,295 shares of company stock worth $584,887 in the last 90 days. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on VRSN shares. Citigroup reduced their price objective on VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Thursday.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $177.80 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $175.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $189.36. The company has a market capitalization of $17.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.84 and a beta of 0.91. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $167.04 and a 1-year high of $226.80.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $384.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $381.85 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 55.04% and a negative return on equity of 47.21%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.70 EPS.

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.