VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Bought by Spire Wealth Management

Spire Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 69.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 253 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $52,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

VeriSign Stock Up 0.5 %

VRSN stock opened at $221.39 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $205.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $190.73. The company has a market capitalization of $21.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.67 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $167.04 and a fifty-two week high of $224.00.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRSN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup lifted their price target 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 upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Activity

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 transaction of $402,563.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.