Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Sells 83,441 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lowered its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 31.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 178,085 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 83,441 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC owned approximately 0.19% of VeriSign worth $45,408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 34.1% in the 1st quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 40,500 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,282,000 after buying an additional 10,300 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,806 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,224,000 after buying an additional 884 shares during the last quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. raised its holdings in VeriSign by 404.8% in the 1st quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 96,636 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $24,534,000 after buying an additional 77,494 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in VeriSign by 26.2% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 76,143 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $19,330,000 after buying an additional 15,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,078 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $528,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.87, for a total transaction of $1,127,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 531,772 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $149,890,573.64. This represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP John Calys sold 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.97, for a total transaction of $112,788.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,335 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,579,769.95. This trade represents a 1.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,002 shares of company stock valued at $7,013,599. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $287.68 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.01 billion, a PE ratio of 35.17 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $277.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $243.90. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $172.49 and a fifty-two week high of $288.95.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.10. The business had revenue of $402.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $400.44 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.23% and a negative return on equity of 41.37%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.92 EPS.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a -- dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

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.

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