VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Acquired by M&T Bank Corp

M&T Bank Corp grew its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 16.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,437 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 760 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,125,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 127.2% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 184 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 69.8% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Down 1.0 %

VRSN stock opened at $236.54 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $221.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $199.18. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.04 and a 12 month high of $242.23. The company has a market cap of $22.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.57 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the 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 owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.