Vestcor Inc Lowers Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Vestcor Inc cut its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm 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 SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in VeriSign by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,960 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $406,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in VeriSign by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $674,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. lifted its stake in VeriSign by 3.9% in the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in VeriSign by 1.9% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $577,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional lifted its stake in VeriSign by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Stock Performance

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

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value 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 approximately $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.