Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Has $944,000 Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund boosted its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 83.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,077 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $944,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on VRSN shares. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $231.18 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $21.87 billion, a PE ratio of 28.90 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $209.70 and its 200-day moving average is $192.64. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $167.04 and a 52 week high of $232.04.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 EPS 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 Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.