Choate Investment Advisors Invests $216,000 in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Choate Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amundi grew its holdings in VeriSign by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 702,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $148,604,000 after purchasing an additional 106,094 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 693,369 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $131,712,000 after purchasing an additional 47,412 shares in the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at $141,129,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in VeriSign by 26.3% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 580,613 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $110,293,000 after purchasing an additional 120,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 570,016 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $117,971,000 after acquiring an additional 42,465 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, 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 value of $103,592.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. 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. Citigroup raised 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $238.52 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $223.88 and its 200-day moving average is $200.73. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.05 and a 1 year high of $242.23. The company has a market cap of $22.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.82 and a beta of 0.87.

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

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.