John Calys Sells 447 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN traded up $2.85 on Friday, reaching $237.88. 1,328,986 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 801,487. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $216.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $195.96. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $239.95. The stock has a market cap of $22.50 billion, a PE ratio of 29.74 and a beta of 0.90.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates 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 topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VeriSign

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign by 138.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 420 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 29.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,912 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $363,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 72.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 12,100 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,307,000 after acquiring an additional 5,077 shares during the period. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 38,400 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.