Birch Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Birch Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 3,996.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,996 shares during the period. Birch Capital Management LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $848,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 93.2% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 226 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Tobam raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 61.1% in the third quarter. Tobam now owns 311 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in VeriSign in the 3rd quarter valued at about $76,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 138.6% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 420 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth $76,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,228 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $233,320.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 33,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,382,670. The trade was a 3.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on VRSN. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $210.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN traded down $0.91 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $209.77. 455,950 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 854,177. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.04 and a 1 year high of $213.68. The company has a market capitalization of $20.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.39 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $191.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.87.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $390.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $390.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 45.59% and a net margin of 55.74%. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share.

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.