Claro Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Claro Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 24.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 410 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 1.9% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $577,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. increased its stake in VeriSign by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $319,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $259,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

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

VeriSign Trading Up 0.5 %

VeriSign stock opened at $210.10 on Thursday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $167.04 and a 12-month high of $213.68. The stock has a market cap of $20.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.43 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $186.16.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $390.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $390.19 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 55.74% and a negative return on equity of 45.59%. VeriSign’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of VeriSign from $210.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th.

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.