VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Purchased by Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp lifted its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,053 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,288,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 702,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $148,604,000 after purchasing an additional 106,094 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 47,412 shares during the period. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new position in VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at about $141,129,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in VeriSign by 26.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in VeriSign by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 570,016 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $117,971,000 after acquiring an additional 42,465 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Robert W. Baird upgraded 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 report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $240.47 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $22.75 billion, a PE ratio of 30.06 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.04 and a 12 month high of $242.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $220.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $198.24.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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.