VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Short Interest Up 18.2% in February

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,820,000 shares, an increase of 18.2% from the February 13th total of 1,540,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 759,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $242.31 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $22.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.29 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $225.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $201.69. VeriSign has a fifty-two week low of $167.05 and a fifty-two week high of $243.05.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) 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%.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $222,840,000. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at about $141,129,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 268.8% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 692,498 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $143,319,000 after purchasing an additional 504,748 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 13,271,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,746,661,000 after purchasing an additional 455,844 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 58.2% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,097,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $227,062,000 after buying an additional 403,760 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th.

VeriSign Company 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.