Allegiance Financial Group Advisory Services LLC Makes New $230,000 Investment in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Allegiance Financial Group Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,109 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted 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 raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 3,996.0% in the 4th quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC now owns 4,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $848,000 after purchasing an additional 3,996 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 322.2% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,639,000 after purchasing an additional 199,583 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased 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 during the period. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth approximately $989,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Stock Down 0.5 %

VRSN stock opened at $237.07 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $214.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $195.25. The stock has a market cap of $22.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.63 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $167.04 and a fifty-two week high of $239.84.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th.

Insider Activity

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.