Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Cuts Holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $871,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VRSN. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,960 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $610,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 0.3% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 21,513 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,077,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its position in VeriSign by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,098 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co. increased its holdings in VeriSign by 1.2% in the first quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 7,227 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,370,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,274 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $620,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of VeriSign in a report on Thursday, June 27th. StockNews.com downgraded VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 16th.

VeriSign Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of VRSN opened at $181.19 on Thursday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $167.04 and a 12-month high of $220.91. The stock has a market cap of $17.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.26 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50-day moving average of $178.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $181.74.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The information services provider reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $387.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $385.80 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 55.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.79 EPS.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 3,684 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $699,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 37,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,177,060. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Company 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.