New York State Common Retirement Fund Cuts Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 58.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 39,122 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 54,800 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund's holdings in VeriSign were worth $9,932,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter valued at about $222,840,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 34,326.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 697,127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $176,980,000 after buying an additional 695,102 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 268.8% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 692,498 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $143,319,000 after purchasing an additional 504,748 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 13,271,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,746,661,000 after purchasing an additional 455,844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 58.2% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,097,129 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $227,062,000 after acquiring an additional 403,760 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.35, for a total transaction of $562,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 515,772 shares of the company's stock, valued at $145,112,452.20. The trade was a 0.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $287.10, for a total value of $143,837.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 37,769 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,843,479.90. The trade was a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,004 shares of company stock valued at $11,278,592 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRSN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded VeriSign from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st.

VeriSign Price Performance

VeriSign stock traded up $2.57 during trading on Friday, reaching $283.43. 359,441 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 755,026. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $172.49 and a 52-week high of $291.54. The company has a market capitalization of $26.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.65 and a beta of 0.78. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $280.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $252.39.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last posted 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 41.37% and a net margin of 50.23%. The company had revenue of $402.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $400.44 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.92 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a -- dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid 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.