Short Interest in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Expands By 22.0%

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,220,000 shares, a growth of 22.0% from the February 28th total of 1,820,000 shares. Approximately 2.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 805,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $254.98 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $232.16 and its 200-day moving average is $205.74. VeriSign has a 52 week low of $167.05 and a 52 week high of $257.70. The company has a market capitalization of $24.12 billion, a PE ratio of 31.87 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’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 value of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 127.2% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 184 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 69.8% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on VeriSign from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th.

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.