VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Sold by Vestcor Inc

Vestcor Inc decreased its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,899 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 131 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $4,739,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $141,129,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in VeriSign by 544.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $81,003,000 after buying an additional 330,561 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in VeriSign by 322.2% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,639,000 after purchasing an additional 199,583 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the third quarter worth about $35,665,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in VeriSign by 56.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 383,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $79,286,000 after purchasing an additional 138,796 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN stock opened at $233.56 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $222.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $199.67. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $167.04 and a fifty-two week high of $242.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.20 and a beta of 0.87.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 directly owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

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.