Danske Bank A S Invests $16.26 Million in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 64,628 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $16,258,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of VRSN. Groupe la Francaise boosted its stake in VeriSign by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 1,413 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in VeriSign by 25.3% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC lifted its stake in VeriSign by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. One Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,215 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCentric Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 6.1% during the first quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC now owns 802 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $199,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VRSN. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Wedbush increased their target price on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.75.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of VRSN opened at $276.90 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $272.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $264.41. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $312.48. The stock has a market cap of $25.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.03 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.21 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.14%.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In other news, EVP John Calys sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.56, for a total transaction of $140,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 31,087 shares in the company, valued at $8,752,855.72. This trade represents a 1.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.35, for a total value of $146,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 34,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,100,984.85. This trade represents a 1.43% 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 sold a total of 36,500 shares of company stock valued at $10,059,796 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

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.