Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Decreases Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lowered its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,098 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 62 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $1,469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VRSN. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 127.2% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 184 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new position in VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 272 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,157 shares of the company’s stock, 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 own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $237.88 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $216.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $195.96. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $167.04 and a one year high of $239.95. The company has a market cap of $22.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74 and a beta of 0.90.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.00. VeriSign had a net margin of 50.47% and a negative return on equity of 43.01%.

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.