Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Has $944,000 Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund boosted its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 83.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,077 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $944,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new position in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at $141,129,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 127.2% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 184 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 20,462 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,235,000 after buying an additional 2,218 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 13,230 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,738,000 after buying an additional 423 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP increased its stake in VeriSign by 75.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP now owns 1,445 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $231.18 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $209.70 and a 200-day moving average of $192.64. The company has a market cap of $21.87 billion, a PE ratio of 28.90 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.04 and a one year high of $232.04.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its 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 net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on VRSN shares. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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.