Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC Invests $479,000 in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,902 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $479,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in VeriSign by 25.3% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 12.3% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 104.5% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 2,108 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 122.1% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,358 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $852,000 after buying an additional 1,846 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 2.0% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,373,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign 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 transaction of $981,651.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 36,500 shares of company stock valued at $10,059,796 in the last ninety days. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

VeriSign Price Performance

VeriSign stock opened at $293.75 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $273.35 and a 200-day moving average of $265.33. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $312.48. The company has a market cap of $26.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.86 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $434.60 million during 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%.VeriSign’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.21 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid 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 (DPR) is currently 35.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on VRSN shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. One 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.75.

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.