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

National Pension Service cut its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 167,735 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 7,930 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned about 0.17% of VeriSign worth $34,714,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1.9% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $577,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,537 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. CX Institutional grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 5.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Keystone Financial Services raised 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 valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of VRSN traded up $2.28 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $240.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,090,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 808,711. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.04 and a one year high of $242.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.02 and a beta of 0.90. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $217.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $196.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued 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 negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup increased 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 report on Tuesday, January 7th. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.