VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Sold by State Street Corp

State Street Corp reduced its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,829,236 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 34,839 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned 3.98% of VeriSign worth $727,402,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of VeriSign by 26.3% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 580,613 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $110,293,000 after purchasing an additional 120,958 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 56.3% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 17,495 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,323,000 after acquiring an additional 6,303 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 50.4% in the second quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 69,563 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,368,000 after acquiring an additional 23,306 shares during the last quarter. Ibex Investors LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign during the second quarter worth $622,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 5.4% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 104,110 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $19,777,000 after acquiring an additional 5,303 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the company'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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,228 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were 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 directly owns 33,593 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,382,670. The trade was a 3.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,776 shares of company stock valued at $1,102,524 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

VeriSign Stock Up 4.9 %

VeriSign stock traded up $9.32 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $200.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 848,912 shares, compared to its average volume of 663,569. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $167.04 and a fifty-two week high of $220.91. The company has a market cap of $19.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.23 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $184.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $181.29.

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

VeriSign 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.