Stephens Inc. AR Lowers Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Stephens Inc. AR trimmed its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,652 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 51 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $963,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 544.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $81,003,000 after buying an additional 330,561 shares in the last quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 3,996.0% during the 4th quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC now owns 4,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $848,000 after acquiring an additional 3,996 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 602.6% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 11,712 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,225,000 after acquiring an additional 10,045 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth approximately $989,000. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,345,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $229.34 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $207.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $191.72. The stock has a market cap of $22.04 billion, a PE ratio of 28.67 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.04 and a one year high of $230.30.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.