VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Sold by UniSuper Management Pty Ltd

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd trimmed its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,102 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,096 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $4,574,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,162,000. Korea Investment CORP boosted its stake in VeriSign by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 29,943 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,197,000 after purchasing an additional 8,900 shares during the last quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth $600,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 133,146 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,556,000 after buying an additional 5,781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TIAA Trust National Association purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth about $210,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $250.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $23.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.37 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $230.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $204.39. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $167.05 and a 1-year high of $256.35.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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

A number of analysts have commented on VRSN shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Baird R W raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.84% 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.