Empowered Funds LLC Makes New Investment in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 14,785 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,719,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in VeriSign during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,116,154,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $312,900,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in VeriSign in the second quarter valued at approximately $172,641,000. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP bought a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $149,686,000. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $288.37 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $276.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $267.69. The firm has a market cap of $26.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.28 and a beta of 0.70.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The company had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.21 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 35.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $333.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was 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 owned 422,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $112,513,229.51. This represents a 0.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 36,000 shares of company stock valued at $9,892,248. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Company 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.