California State Teachers Retirement System Increases Stock Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 135,520 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,117 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.14% of VeriSign worth $28,047,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. 111 Capital purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $516,000. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $254,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $3,348,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $45,526,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $367,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 400 shares of the business'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 value of $112,788.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,335 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,579,769.95. The trade was a 1.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.00, for a total value of $141,282.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,719 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,200,758. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,501 shares of company stock valued at $2,387,664. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on VeriSign from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSN traded up $3.09 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $275.56. The stock had a trading volume of 675,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 756,895. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $264.22 and a 200 day moving average of $231.64. The stock has a market cap of $25.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.45 and a beta of 0.80. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $172.49 and a 52-week high of $288.95.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.10. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%. The firm had revenue of $402.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $400.44 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.92 earnings per share. VeriSign's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a -- dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. VeriSign's 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.