VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Shares Bought by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al raised its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 290,112 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 21,108 shares during the quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $81,814,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,261,494,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $2,116,154,000. State Street Corp increased its position in VeriSign by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,150,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,044,157,000 after purchasing an additional 73,583 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in VeriSign by 1.4% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $699,916,000 after purchasing an additional 38,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP raised its stake in VeriSign by 48.5% during the first quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 915,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $227,252,000 after purchasing an additional 298,895 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In other VeriSign news, CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.67, for a total value of $1,002,111.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 368,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,910,594.09. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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. Also, EVP Danny Mcpherson sold 3,256 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.89, for a total value of $989,465.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 30,548 shares in the company, valued at $9,283,231.72. This trade represents a 9.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 45,856 shares of company stock worth $13,497,228. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on VRSN. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of VeriSign from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $351.00 to $367.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, VeriSign has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $352.00.

VeriSign Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of VRSN opened at $307.21 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $295.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $271.38. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $312.78. The firm has a market cap of $27.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.69 and a beta of 0.69.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The information services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.46 by ($0.11). VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 49.06%. The company had revenue of $443.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $440.58 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.27 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.53 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 17th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.84%.

VeriSign Profile

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) provides internet infrastructure services that support the global domain name system. The company operates the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains and provides registry services for certain other domains, helping maintain the databases that connect domain names with internet addresses.

The company’s services include domain name registry operations, domain name registration-related support for accredited registrars, and infrastructure designed to improve the availability, stability, and security of internet naming services.