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

California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 30,008.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,563,589 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 34,448,791 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 38.28% of VeriSign worth $8,694,816,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new position in VeriSign during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in VeriSign by 429.2% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. bought a new stake in VeriSign during the second quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.94, for a total transaction of $828,102.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 426,139 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $106,935,320.66. This trade represents a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 36,000 shares of company stock valued at $9,918,308 in the last ninety days. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $282.20 on Wednesday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $280.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $270.21. The stock has a market cap of $25.48 billion, a PE ratio of 30.61 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $208.86 and a fifty-two week high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The company had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $433.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.21 EPS. VeriSign's revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.

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