Pacer Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 324.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 347,683 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 265,751 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $86,351,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in VeriSign by 429.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% in the first 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. Activest Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of VeriSign by 788.0% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 120.8% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 234 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Wedbush upped their price target on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Citigroup boosted their target price on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,690,172.33. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through 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 firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.54, for a total value of $141,770.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 36,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,363,670.54. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 28,900 shares of company stock valued at $7,872,034 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ VRSN opened at $290.02 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.19 billion, a PE ratio of 31.46 and a beta of 0.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $274.47 and its 200 day moving average is $260.73. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.21 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 35.14%.

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.