VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Bought by Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 127.2% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 184 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 69.8% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

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

VeriSign Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $244.51 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.56 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $167.05 and a 52 week high of $246.60. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $226.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $202.36.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%.

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.