Odyssean LLC Acquires 2,641 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Odyssean LLC increased its holdings in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 45.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,498 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,641 shares during the quarter. Odyssean LLC’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $2,138,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 429.2% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 25.3% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management boosted its holdings in VeriSign by 788.0% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares in the company, valued at $130,690,172.33. This represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 36,500 shares of company stock worth $10,059,796 in the last three months. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $293.75 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $312.48. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $273.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $265.33. The company has a market cap of $26.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.86 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The business had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.21 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on VRSN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $328.75.

VeriSign Profile

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.