Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 433 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Retirement Systems of Alabama decreased its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 17,893 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 433 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $3,703,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 7.3% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 693,369 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $131,712,000 after buying an additional 47,412 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in VeriSign by 26.3% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 580,613 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $110,293,000 after purchasing an additional 120,958 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in VeriSign by 1.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 527,551 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $100,214,000 after purchasing an additional 9,574 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in VeriSign by 12.2% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 428,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $81,426,000 after purchasing an additional 46,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in VeriSign by 544.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $81,003,000 after purchasing an additional 330,561 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.4 %

VeriSign stock opened at $222.24 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $205.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $190.84. The firm has a market cap of $21.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.78 and a beta of 0.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $224.00.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 44.06% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on VRSN shares. StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th.

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.