First Horizon Advisors Inc. Acquires 605 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 19.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $755,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 14.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,826,836 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $369,989,000 after buying an additional 233,811 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 99.0% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,523 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $89,624,000 after acquiring an additional 220,106 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 471.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 238,978 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $49,220,000 after acquiring an additional 197,169 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 13.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,090,068 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $220,771,000 after purchasing an additional 125,901 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 16.5% during the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 749,534 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $151,802,000 after purchasing an additional 105,901 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 614 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $116,660.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 41,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,971,450. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 614 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $116,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 41,955 shares in the company, valued at $7,971,450. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,875 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.19, for a total transaction of $558,296.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 30,895 shares in the company, valued at $5,999,500.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,752 shares of company stock valued at $2,853,989 over the last ninety days. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $168.32 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.76 billion, a PE ratio of 20.68 and a beta of 0.89. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $167.04 and a 52-week high of $229.72. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $198.68.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.06. VeriSign had a net margin of 55.04% and a negative return on equity of 47.21%. The company had revenue of $384.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $381.85 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.70 EPS. VeriSign’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on VeriSign from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th.

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.