Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Has $6.26 Million Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio decreased its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 32,972 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,370 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $6,263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 26.3% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 580,613 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $110,293,000 after acquiring an additional 120,958 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 89.8% during the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 21,718 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,126,000 after purchasing an additional 10,277 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 56.3% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 17,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,323,000 after buying an additional 6,303 shares during the period. Prudential PLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 50.4% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 69,563 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,368,000 after buying an additional 23,306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ibex Investors LLC bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at $622,000. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $233,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,382,670. This trade represents a 3.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at $5,033,391.51. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,776 shares of company stock worth $1,102,524 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Stock Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $197.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $18.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.95 and a beta of 0.92. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.04 and a twelve month high of $220.91. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $186.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $182.12.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.06. VeriSign had a net margin of 55.74% and a negative return on equity of 45.59%. The business had revenue of $390.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $390.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis.

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.