VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Shares Acquired by Sei Investments Co.

Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 10.2% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 109,940 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,195 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $27,307,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State of Wyoming raised its stake in VeriSign by 95.9% during the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 4,206 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,045,000 after purchasing an additional 2,059 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 8,522 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,117,000 after buying an additional 734 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 20.6% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 719,987 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $178,816,000 after buying an additional 123,006 shares during the period. CacheTech Inc. increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 60.1% during the 1st quarter. CacheTech Inc. now owns 2,258 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of VeriSign by 31.6% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 13,723 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,408,000 after buying an additional 3,299 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total transaction of $878,097.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 422,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $112,513,229.51. This trade represents a 0.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.54, for a total transaction of $141,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 36,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,363,670.54. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 21,300 shares of company stock worth $5,770,842 over the last quarter. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VRSN. Citigroup lifted their target price on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.75.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of VRSN opened at $274.82 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $24.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.81 and a beta of 0.71. The business’s 50 day moving average is $275.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $259.60. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52-week low of $208.86 and a 52-week high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.21 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 35.14%.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) is an internet infrastructure company that operates critical components of the global Domain Name System (DNS) and provides cybersecurity-related services. The company is best known as the authoritative registry operator for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the central databases and zone files that enable domain name resolution for millions of websites. VeriSign’s registry role is performed under contractual agreements with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and involves high-availability, highly secure operations to support continuous internet connectivity.

In addition to its registry business, VeriSign offers a suite of services designed to protect and accelerate DNS and internet traffic for enterprises and service providers.