United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Invests $761,000 in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,024 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $761,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Danske Bank A S raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 23.5% in the 4th quarter. Danske Bank A S now owns 64,246 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,609,000 after buying an additional 12,220 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 174,140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $41,886,000 after buying an additional 3,691 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in VeriSign by 208.5% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 13,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,324,000 after buying an additional 9,046 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in VeriSign by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,352 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,973,000 after buying an additional 5,267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA bought a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at $13,636,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, EVP John Calys sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.56, for a total transaction of $140,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 31,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,752,855.72. The trade was a 1.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the business’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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 34,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,100,984.85. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 39,800 shares of company stock worth $11,020,624 over the last three months. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price 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. One equities research 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 company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.75.

VeriSign Stock Performance

Shares of VRSN opened at $291.93 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.66 and a beta of 0.70. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $275.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $266.69. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS 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%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.21 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.14%.

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.