Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 1,054,462 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 49.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,072,207 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,054,462 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $203,676,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VRSN. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in VeriSign by 291.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 176 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 117.2% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 202 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter worth about $38,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners grew its stake in VeriSign by 93.2% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 226 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 1,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $233,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 33,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,382,670. This represents a 3.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 2,092 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,033,391.51. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 5,776 shares of company stock worth $1,102,524. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VeriSign stock opened at $193.44 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.04 and a 1 year high of $208.04. The firm has a market cap of $18.59 billion, a PE ratio of 22.49 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $182.75.

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

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.