Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 2,089,142 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 98.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,527 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,089,142 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in VeriSign were worth $7,129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in VeriSign by 291.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 176 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 117.2% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 202 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 93.2% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 226 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN traded up $1.45 on Wednesday, reaching $179.70. The stock had a trading volume of 153,881 shares, compared to its average volume of 659,772. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $183.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $179.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.74 and a beta of 0.91. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $167.04 and a 12-month high of $220.91.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $390.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $390.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 45.59% and a net margin of 55.74%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.83 EPS.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,228 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $233,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 33,593 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,382,670. The trade was a 3.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.