HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 56 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,256 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 69.8% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, 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.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of VeriSign 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $250.92 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.05 and a 1 year high of $256.35. The company has a market capitalization of $23.74 billion, a PE ratio of 31.37 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $230.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $204.39.

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

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.