Gateway Advisory LLC Raises Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Gateway Advisory LLC raised its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,538 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Gateway Advisory LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $273,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in VeriSign by 291.1% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 176 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 117.2% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 202 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth about $38,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 55.7% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 327 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 3,684 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $699,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 37,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,177,060. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 16th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Thursday, June 27th.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $182.55 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $18.18 billion, a PE ratio of 22.43 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $180.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $180.18. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $220.91.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The information services provider reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $387.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $385.80 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 55.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.79 EPS.

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.