Oxbow Advisors LLC Acquires 238 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Oxbow Advisors LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the period. Oxbow Advisors LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,964,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 7.3% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 693,369 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $131,712,000 after acquiring an additional 47,412 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new position in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at about $141,129,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in VeriSign by 26.3% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 580,613 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $110,293,000 after acquiring an additional 120,958 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 1.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 527,551 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $100,214,000 after acquiring an additional 9,574 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 12.2% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 428,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $81,426,000 after acquiring an additional 46,677 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $231.87 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $211.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $193.50. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.04 and a 12 month high of $236.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.98 and a beta of 0.90.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 EPS 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%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.