VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Sold by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 21.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 59,453 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 16,457 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.06% of VeriSign worth $12,245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,826,836 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $369,989,000 after acquiring an additional 233,811 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,090,068 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $220,771,000 after acquiring an additional 125,901 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,056,995 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $214,073,000 after acquiring an additional 44,080 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 772,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $159,069,000 after acquiring an additional 22,796 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 660,463 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $133,764,000 after acquiring an additional 96,676 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.0 %

VeriSign stock traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $184.68. 193,690 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 568,625. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $190.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $200.63. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $181.57 and a 12-month high of $229.72. The firm has a market cap of $18.49 billion, a PE ratio of 23.33 and a beta of 0.88.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The information services provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.09. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 46.56% and a net margin of 54.74%. The company had revenue of $380.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $381.01 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 7.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup lowered their price target on VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 614 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $116,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,088,110. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 614 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $116,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 42,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,088,110. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.05, for a total value of $122,017.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 34,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,930,124.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,877 shares of company stock worth $2,878,864 in the last three months. 0.94% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.