VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Acquired by Savant Capital LLC

Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,731 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $4,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,896,000 after purchasing an additional 965 shares during the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth $483,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 11,318 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,342,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 232,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $48,078,000 after buying an additional 833 shares during the period. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $227.38 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $205.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $191.16. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.04 and a 12 month high of $227.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.85 billion, a PE ratio of 28.42 and a beta of 0.90.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 44.06% 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.