VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Sold by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,400 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $911,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in VeriSign by 1.9% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $577,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. CX Institutional raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,429 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $647,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VRSN. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the business’s 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 completion of 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 SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

VRSN opened at $229.24 on Tuesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.04 and a one year high of $230.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.66 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $209.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $192.35.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 44.06% and a net margin of 50.47%.

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.