Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 326 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,919 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 326 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,225,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 544.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $81,003,000 after purchasing an additional 330,561 shares during the last quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign by 3,996.0% in the 4th quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC now owns 4,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $848,000 after buying an additional 3,996 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in VeriSign by 322.2% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,639,000 after acquiring an additional 199,583 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 20,462 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,235,000 after acquiring an additional 2,218 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in VeriSign by 602.6% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 11,712 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,225,000 after purchasing an additional 10,045 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN stock opened at $250.92 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $230.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $204.39. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.05 and a one year high of $256.35. The company has a market capitalization of $23.74 billion, a PE ratio of 31.37 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VRSN. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th.

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.