Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Has $1.31 Million Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lowered its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,333 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 113 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,311,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $577,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. grew its position in VeriSign by 3.9% during the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional increased its stake in VeriSign by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC increased its stake in VeriSign by 4.8% during the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $319,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $259,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VRSN. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $210.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of VRSN opened at $210.73 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $20.25 billion, a PE ratio of 24.50 and a beta of 0.89. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.04 and a 1 year high of $213.68. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $198.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $187.88.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.06. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 45.59% and a net margin of 55.74%. The company had revenue of $390.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $390.19 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis.

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.