Mather Group LLC. Acquires 697 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 20.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 697 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $844,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in VeriSign by 52.0% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 152 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 158.6% in the fourth quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 181 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 251.5% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 355 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth about $79,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth about $97,000. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VRSN. StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of VeriSign from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.05, for a total value of $122,017.65. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,930,124.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.05, for a total transaction of $122,017.65. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,930,124.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,875 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.19, for a total transaction of $558,296.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,895 shares in the company, valued at $5,999,500.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,877 shares of company stock valued at $2,878,864 over the last three months. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $169.48 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $188.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $199.39. The company has a market capitalization of $16.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.82 and a beta of 0.88. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.36 and a 1-year high of $229.72.

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

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.