California State Teachers Retirement System Has $34.56 Million Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 19.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 137,397 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 22,599 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.15% of VeriSign worth $34,563,589 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Groupe la Francaise raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 1,413 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 2.1% during the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,069 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $514,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Strive Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 4.3% in the second quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC now owns 1,009 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $254,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 6.1% in the first quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC now owns 802 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $199,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 19.0% in the first quarter. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 295 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.2%

VRSN traded up $0.64 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $299.24. 205,758 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 806,516. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $283.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $272.39. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $208.86 and a 52-week high of $312.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.02 billion, a PE ratio of 32.43 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.21 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.16, for a total value of $144,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 32,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,511,918.20. This represents a 1.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.40, for a total value of $938,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 391,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,378,718.80. The trade was a 0.84% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 36,500 shares of company stock worth $10,096,482 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VRSN shares. Wedbush lifted 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 restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $333.00.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc NASDAQ: VRSN is a global provider of internet infrastructure and domain name registry services. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the systems that support the registration and resolution of millions of internet addresses worldwide.

VeriSign's services include domain registry operations, Domain Name System (DNS) services, DNS security and stability solutions, and related internet infrastructure. Its systems help domain name registrars, businesses, governments and internet users access websites and online services reliably.

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