Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $78.17 Million Stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 64.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 377,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 694,523 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.39% of VeriSign worth $78,166,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 93.2% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 226 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 69.8% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 138.6% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 420 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the third quarter worth $76,000. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.2 %

VRSN opened at $231.73 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $210.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $192.94. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $167.04 and a 1-year high of $232.48. The company has a market cap of $21.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.97 and a beta of 0.90.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on VRSN shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.43, for a total transaction of $402,563.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.