New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $19.44 Million Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 93,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,500 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.10% of VeriSign worth $19,438,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 693,369 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $131,712,000 after acquiring an additional 47,412 shares in the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth approximately $141,129,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in VeriSign by 26.3% during 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 during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in VeriSign by 1.8% during 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 during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in VeriSign by 12.2% during 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $231.87 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $212.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $193.87. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $167.04 and a 52 week high of $236.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.93 billion, a PE ratio of 28.98 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

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

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.