National Pension Service Sells 142,733 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

National Pension Service cut its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 87.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 20,513 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 142,733 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $4,984,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $313,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 104.5% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 2,108 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 122.1% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,358 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,373,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on VRSN. Weiss Ratings raised VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup boosted their price target on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $317.67.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $296.59 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.77 and a beta of 0.68. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.86 and a 1 year high of $312.48. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $275.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $253.27.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.10 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.46 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is currently 35.80%.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total transaction of $1,355,100.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 35,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,538,548.90. The trade was a 12.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 498 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.06, for a total value of $134,489.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 38,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,316,832.12. This represents a 1.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 6,328 shares of company stock worth $1,705,928. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

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.