VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Short Interest Up 18.2% in February

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,820,000 shares, an increase of 18.2% from the February 13th total of 1,540,000 shares. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 759,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of VRSN opened at $239.82 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.69 billion, a PE ratio of 29.98 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign has a 12 month low of $167.05 and a 12 month high of $242.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $224.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $201.12.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,960 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $406,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $674,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. increased its holdings in VeriSign by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional increased its holdings in VeriSign by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 573 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup raised their price objective on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th.

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.