VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stock Position Decreased by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System reduced its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,489 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 193 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $5,275,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 68.1% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $162,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 1.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 23,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,300,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign by 12.9% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $251,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,675,000. Finally, Asset Management Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 0.5% in the third quarter. Asset Management Advisors LLC now owns 28,670 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,446,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of VRSN opened at $240.47 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $22.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.06 and a beta of 0.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $167.04 and a 1-year high of $242.23. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $220.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $198.24.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup increased their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd.

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.