Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Buys 48 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,960 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in VeriSign by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $674,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 1,597 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $331,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 12,934 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,677,000 after acquiring an additional 705 shares during the last quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI now owns 14,595 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,021,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its holdings in VeriSign by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 11,053 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,288,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $239.82 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $224.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $201.12. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.05 and a one year high of $242.23. The firm has a market cap of $22.69 billion, a PE ratio of 29.98 and a beta of 0.87.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com cut VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup increased their target price on 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 VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

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.