California Public Employees Retirement System Has $115.26 Million Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 559,628 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 14,847 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $115,261,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VRSN. Morgan Stanley grew its position in VeriSign by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,826,836 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $369,989,000 after purchasing an additional 233,811 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 99.0% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,523 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $89,624,000 after acquiring an additional 220,106 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 471.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 238,978 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $49,220,000 after acquiring an additional 197,169 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,090,068 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $220,771,000 after acquiring an additional 125,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 749,534 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $151,802,000 after acquiring an additional 105,901 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.05, for a total transaction of $122,017.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,930,124.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 shares were sold at an average price of $193.21, for a total transaction of $1,820,617.83. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 111,551 shares in the company, valued at $21,552,768.71. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.05, for a total transaction of $122,017.65. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 34,816 shares in the company, valued at $6,930,124.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,877 shares of company stock valued at $2,878,864 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VRSN. StockNews.com lowered shares of VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $185.12 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $181.57 and a 12-month high of $229.72. The company has a market capitalization of $18.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.37 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $190.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $200.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The information services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.09. VeriSign had a net margin of 54.74% and a negative return on equity of 46.56%. The firm had revenue of $380.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $381.01 million. As a group, research analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 7.82 earnings per share for the current year.

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.