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

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in 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. Based on an average daily volume of 759,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.9% of the company’s stock are short sold.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.0 %

VRSN stock opened at $242.21 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $22.91 billion, a PE ratio of 30.28 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign has a 1 year low of $167.05 and a 1 year high of $242.52. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $225.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $201.41.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VRSN. Citigroup upped 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. Robert W. Baird raised 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 report on Monday, December 9th. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VeriSign

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $222,840,000. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth $141,129,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in VeriSign by 268.8% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 692,498 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $143,319,000 after buying an additional 504,748 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc raised its holdings in VeriSign by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 13,271,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,746,661,000 after acquiring an additional 455,844 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in VeriSign by 58.2% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,097,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $227,062,000 after acquiring an additional 403,760 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.