VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Thomas Indelicarto Sells 500 Shares of Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.20, for a total value of $146,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 35,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,241,902.20. The trade was a 1.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.1%

VRSN stock opened at $299.20 on Wednesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48. The company has a market capitalization of $27.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.45 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $274.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $261.45.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The business’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of VeriSign

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $312,900,000. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $149,686,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,020,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,700,000 after acquiring an additional 496,674 shares during the period. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 191.6% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 626,570 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $152,225,000 after acquiring an additional 411,728 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 1,035.6% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 420,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $117,651,000 after acquiring an additional 383,771 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup lifted their price target on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $328.75.

About VeriSign

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.