Moore Capital Management LP Grows Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Moore Capital Management LP grew its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 292.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,450 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,570 shares during the quarter. Moore Capital Management LP’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $868,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Groupe la Francaise boosted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 1,413 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $50,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 2.1% in the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $514,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC now owns 802 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $199,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 295 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total transaction of $878,097.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 422,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $112,513,229.51. This trade represents a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 36,000 shares of company stock valued at $9,892,248 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, VeriSign currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.75.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $288.28 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $275.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $267.17. The firm has a market cap of $26.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.27 and a beta of 0.70. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The business had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

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