California Public Employees Retirement System Lowers Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN - Free Report) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 559,628 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 14,847 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.55% of VeriSign worth $115,261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VeriSign stock traded up $0.43 on Wednesday, hitting $185.55. 686,564 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 577,062. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $190.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $200.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.58 billion, a PE ratio of 23.37 and a beta of 0.88. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $181.01 and a one year high of $229.72.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on VRSN. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $237.00 to $236.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of VeriSign from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 34,816 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,930,124.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 613 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,816 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,930,124.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,875 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.19, for a total transaction of $558,296.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,999,500.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,877 shares of company stock valued at $2,878,864 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.94% of the company's stock.

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.