Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $5.16 Million Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas decreased its holdings in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 86.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,328 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 135,223 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in VeriSign were worth $5,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VRSN. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,512 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $313,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 847.7% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 12,528 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,593,000 after buying an additional 11,206 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 5,437 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,125,000 after purchasing an additional 760 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at $11,865,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at $8,310,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of VeriSign stock traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $286.64. 37,097 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 752,894. The company has a market cap of $26.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.05 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $280.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $247.94. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $172.49 and a fifty-two week high of $290.38.

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

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a -- dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. VeriSign's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.65%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.17, for a total transaction of $145,375.17. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 38,270 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,104,805.90. This represents a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 531,772 shares in the company, valued at $149,890,573.64. This trade represents a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,503 shares of company stock valued at $7,158,975 over the last three months. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.