VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) Shares Sold by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 26.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 60,313 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 21,648 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $12,482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased 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. Concord Wealth Partners increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 109 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in VeriSign in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management increased 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of VeriSign 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of VeriSign 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. 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 Trading Up 2.2 %

VeriSign stock opened at $238.24 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.04 and a 12 month high of $239.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $213.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $194.95. The firm has a market cap of $22.54 billion, a PE ratio of 29.78 and a beta of 0.90.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 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%.

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.