State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Sells 6,492 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury trimmed its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 28.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,944 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 6,492 shares during the quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury's holdings in VeriSign were worth $3,300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,701,154 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $352,071,000 after buying an additional 35,326 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in VeriSign by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,284,759 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $265,894,000 after acquiring an additional 116,833 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at $222,840,000. Troy Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 49.1% during the fourth quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd now owns 914,543 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $189,274,000 after purchasing an additional 301,267 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 702,055 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $148,604,000 after purchasing an additional 106,094 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday.

VeriSign Trading Up 8.0 %

Shares of VRSN opened at $272.79 on Friday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $243.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $214.07. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.05 and a 12 month high of $276.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.10 and a beta of 0.87.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.10. The company had revenue of $402.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $400.44 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a -- dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total transaction of $103,592.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through 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.

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