abrdn plc Sells 3,544 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

abrdn plc lessened its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 15.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,544 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $4,109,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 67.5% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 3,086 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth about $607,000. CWM LLC grew its holdings in VeriSign by 161.0% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 14,435 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,742,000 after buying an additional 8,904 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the third quarter valued at about $105,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 3,272.7% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,855 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $352,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $221.39 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $205.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $190.73. The company has a market capitalization of $21.28 billion, a PE ratio of 27.67 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $167.04 and a 1-year high of $224.00.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 44.06% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on VRSN shares. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup boosted 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company 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.