VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Short Interest Down 16.7% in January

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,600,000 shares, a drop of 16.7% from the January 15th total of 1,920,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 688,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

VeriSign Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of VRSN opened at $229.24 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.66 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $209.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $192.31. VeriSign has a 12 month low of $167.04 and a 12 month high of $230.30.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 44.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup raised 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. 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 Activity at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings 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 worth $81,003,000 after buying an additional 330,561 shares in the last quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $2,225,000 after buying an additional 10,045 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at $989,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 322.2% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,639,000 after acquiring an additional 199,583 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

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.