VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 102,573 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 8,383 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $21,126,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 272,103 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $56,042,000 after purchasing an additional 25,639 shares during the period. Duality Advisers LP raised its holdings in VeriSign by 142.0% in the 4th quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 29,874 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,153,000 after purchasing an additional 17,529 shares during the period. NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 72,544 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,941,000 after purchasing an additional 9,888 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 41.4% during the third quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 1,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 85,196 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,547,000 after acquiring an additional 8,710 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on VeriSign from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com cut VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.21, for a total value of $1,820,617.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 111,551 shares in the company, valued at $21,552,768.71. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $119,737.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,143 shares in the company, valued at $8,427,122.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Todd B. Strubbe sold 9,423 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.21, for a total value of $1,820,617.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 111,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,552,768.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,877 shares of company stock worth $2,878,864 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN stock opened at $175.48 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $189.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $199.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.57 billion, a PE ratio of 21.56 and a beta of 0.88. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $174.51 and a 1 year high of $229.72.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $384.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $381.85 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 47.39% and a net margin of 55.04%. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.70 earnings per share.

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.