Insider Selling: VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO Sells $1,016,367.00 in Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.99, for a total transaction of $1,016,367.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 361,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,469,896.73. This represents a 0.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

D James Bidzos also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, November 3rd, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $311.99, for a total transaction of $1,029,567.00.
• On Tuesday, October 27th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.67, for a total transaction of $1,002,111.00.
• On Tuesday, October 20th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.30, for a total transaction of $1,010,790.00.
• On Tuesday, October 13th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.85, for a total transaction of $999,405.00.
• On Tuesday, October 6th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.33, for a total value of $964,689.00.
• On Tuesday, September 29th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.78, for a total value of $919,974.00.
• On Tuesday, September 22nd, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.74, for a total value of $1,005,642.00.
• On Tuesday, September 15th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.58, for a total value of $978,714.00.
• On Tuesday, September 8th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.40, for a total value of $938,520.00.
• On Tuesday, September 1st, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total value of $960,597.00.

VeriSign Price Performance

VeriSign stock traded down $1.61 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $312.48. The company had a trading volume of 410,652 shares, compared to its average volume of 842,510. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $299.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $273.85. The firm has a market cap of $28.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.60 and a beta of 0.66. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $324.63.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $443.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $440.58 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.06% and a negative return on equity of 38.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.27 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 17th. VeriSign’s payout ratio is presently 34.84%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VeriSign

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,116,154,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,150,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,044,157,000 after acquiring an additional 73,583 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in VeriSign by 1.4% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $699,916,000 after acquiring an additional 38,800 shares during the period. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc lifted its stake in VeriSign by 33,723.8% in the third quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 2,770,508 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $781,311,000 after acquiring an additional 2,762,317 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on VRSN shares. Zacks Research cut shares of VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Robert W. Baird set a $380.00 price objective on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. 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 note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.00.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc. operates critical internet infrastructure, best known for managing the domain-name registries for .com and .net. It provides the systems that allow domain names in these extensions to be registered and resolved through the Domain Name System, working with registrars that serve businesses and individuals. The company also provides registry services for other domain extensions and supports the security and stability of the internet’s naming infrastructure. Its services are used globally through a network of registrars and other internet service providers.