Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 64.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 377,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 694,523 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $78,166,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth $141,129,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in VeriSign by 544.1% in the 4th 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. Canoe Financial LP bought a new stake in VeriSign in the 3rd quarter worth about $46,455,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in VeriSign by 322.2% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,639,000 after buying an additional 199,583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,665,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on VRSN. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $231.73 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.97 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $210.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $192.94. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.04 and a 1 year high of $232.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

VeriSign Company 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.