Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC Lowers Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC trimmed its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 21.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,290 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 349 shares during the quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 127.2% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 184 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 69.8% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

VeriSign Stock Down 1.0 %

VRSN opened at $236.54 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $242.23. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $221.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $199.18. The company has a market cap of $22.38 billion, a PE ratio of 29.57 and a beta of 0.87.

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

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.