Principle Wealth Partners LLC Purchases New Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 1,045 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners raised its stake in 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 during the period. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in VeriSign by 69.8% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign by 138.6% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 420 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in VeriSign in the 3rd quarter valued at $76,000. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN stock opened at $227.38 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.42 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $205.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $191.16. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $167.04 and a fifty-two week high of $227.50.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 44.06% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.