State of Alaska Department of Revenue Cuts Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue reduced its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 18.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,730 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $6,277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in VeriSign by 1.9% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $577,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its stake in VeriSign by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,429 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in VeriSign by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $647,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $221.39 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $21.28 billion, a PE ratio of 25.74 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $204.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $190.32. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $167.04 and a 1-year high of $224.00.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 45.59% and a net margin of 55.74%.

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.