California State Teachers Retirement System Acquires 34,448,791 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 30,008.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,563,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,448,791 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.38% of VeriSign worth $8,694,816,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 429.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on VRSN. Wedbush upped their target price on VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $333.00.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN stock opened at $282.20 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $280.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $270.21. The company has a market cap of $25.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.61 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.21 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is 35.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total transaction of $960,597.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 394,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,959,300.43. This represents a 0.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.78, for a total transaction of $145,390.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 33,395 shares in the company, valued at $9,710,598.10. This trade represents a 1.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,000 shares of company stock valued at $9,918,308. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Company Profile

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) is an internet infrastructure company that operates critical components of the global Domain Name System (DNS) and provides cybersecurity-related services. The company is best known as the authoritative registry operator for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the central databases and zone files that enable domain name resolution for millions of websites. VeriSign’s registry role is performed under contractual agreements with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and involves high-availability, highly secure operations to support continuous internet connectivity.

In addition to its registry business, VeriSign offers a suite of services designed to protect and accelerate DNS and internet traffic for enterprises and service providers.