Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 98.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 37,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,089,142 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $7,129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 4.0% during the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,852 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $329,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 6.7% during the second quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,172 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $208,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 5.6% in the second quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $319,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 6.5% in the third quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $259,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $178.25 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $183.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $179.80. VeriSign, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $167.04 and a fifty-two week high of $220.91. The company has a market capitalization of $17.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.73 and a beta of 0.91.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The information services provider reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.06. VeriSign had a net margin of 55.74% and a negative return on equity of 45.59%. The firm had revenue of $390.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $390.19 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.83 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 2,456 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $466,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,821 shares in the company, valued at $6,615,990. This represents a 6.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company 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.