National Pension Service Has $34.71 Million Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

National Pension Service decreased its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 167,735 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,930 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned 0.17% of VeriSign worth $34,714,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Finance LLC boosted 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 valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,429 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $296,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keystone Financial Services lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Keystone Financial Services now owns 1,137 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $235,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $237.88 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $239.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.50 billion, a PE ratio of 29.74 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $216.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.96.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.