Cypress Capital Group Has $511,000 Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Cypress Capital Group decreased its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 15.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 442 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $511,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the third quarter valued at $227,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 68.1% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $162,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.4% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 23,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,300,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 2.8% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 132,737 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $25,215,000 after buying an additional 3,588 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the third quarter worth about $237,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on VRSN shares. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup boosted their price target on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $240.93 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $218.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $197.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.79 billion, a PE ratio of 30.12 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $167.04 and a 52 week high of $242.23.

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

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.