C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors Invests $141.13 Million in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 681,912 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $141,129,000. VeriSign accounts for 5.0% of C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors owned 0.71% of VeriSign as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Finance LLC increased its position in VeriSign by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $577,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. grew its stake in VeriSign by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional grew its stake in VeriSign by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its stake in VeriSign by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,429 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keystone Financial Services grew its stake in VeriSign by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Services now owns 1,137 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN opened at $229.24 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $209.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $192.35. The stock has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.66 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $167.04 and a 1-year high of $230.30.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly 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 negative return on equity of 44.06% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. 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 research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,033,391.51. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

About VeriSign

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.