Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Buys 225 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 19.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $246,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 19.2% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,883 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 11.5% in the second quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $538,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.2% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 11,362 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,020,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $184.89 on Thursday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.04 and a 1 year high of $220.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.71 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s 50-day moving average is $179.21 and its 200 day moving average is $181.33.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The information services provider reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $387.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $385.80 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 55.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.79 EPS.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on VRSN. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. StockNews.com downgraded VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, June 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 3,684 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $699,960.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 37,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,177,060. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

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.