Willis Investment Counsel Has $458,000 Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Willis Investment Counsel lifted its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,214 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the quarter. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $458,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in VeriSign by 1.9% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,429 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $647,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN stock opened at $215.00 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.00 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $167.04 and a fifty-two week high of $217.66. The business has a 50-day moving average of $202.17 and a 200-day moving average of $189.27.

VeriSign 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.