New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 5,495 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 68,342 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,495 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.07% of VeriSign worth $14,144,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in VeriSign by 7.3% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 693,369 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $131,712,000 after buying an additional 47,412 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $141,129,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 26.3% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 580,613 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $110,293,000 after acquiring an additional 120,958 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 527,551 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $100,214,000 after acquiring an additional 9,574 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in VeriSign by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 428,647 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $81,426,000 after acquiring an additional 46,677 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN traded down $2.01 on Friday, reaching $231.87. 978,529 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 762,660. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $236.20. The company has a fifty day moving average of $211.65 and a 200-day moving average of $193.50. The company has a market capitalization of $21.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.98 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total value of $402,563.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,033,391.51. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on VRSN shares. Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup increased 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.

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.