VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stock Position Lessened by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 21.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 59,453 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 16,457 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.06% of VeriSign worth $12,245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,826,836 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $369,989,000 after acquiring an additional 233,811 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,090,068 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $220,771,000 after acquiring an additional 125,901 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,056,995 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $214,073,000 after acquiring an additional 44,080 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 772,330 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $159,069,000 after acquiring an additional 22,796 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 660,463 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $133,764,000 after acquiring an additional 96,676 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered VeriSign from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRSN traded up $0.38 on Tuesday, reaching $185.12. 726,643 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 575,658. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $190.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $200.63. The company has a market cap of $18.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.32 and a beta of 0.88. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $181.57 and a 12 month high of $229.72.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The information services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $380.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $381.01 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 46.56% and a net margin of 54.74%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 7.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 614 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $116,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,955 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,971,450. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.05, for a total value of $122,017.65. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,930,124.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 614 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $116,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 41,955 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,971,450. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 14,877 shares of company stock valued at $2,878,864. Corporate insiders own 0.94% of the company's stock.

About VeriSign

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.