Appleton Partners Inc. MA Has $1.24 Million Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA lowered its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,010 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 80 shares during the period. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,244,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 93.2% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 226 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Tobam boosted its position in VeriSign by 61.1% during the third quarter. Tobam now owns 311 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in VeriSign by 138.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 420 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $221.39 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.67 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.04 and a 1 year high of $224.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $204.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $190.32.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 EPS 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%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

VeriSign 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.