Ieq Capital LLC Has $43.27 Million Stake in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Ieq Capital LLC trimmed its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 178,089 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,363 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC owned 0.19% of VeriSign worth $43,267,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in VeriSign by 429.2% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in VeriSign by 25.3% during the first 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 during the period. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in VeriSign during the third quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management boosted its position in VeriSign by 788.0% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRSN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, VeriSign currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $317.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $981,651.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 439,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,690,172.33. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total value of $1,355,100.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 35,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,538,548.90. The trade was a 12.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,596 shares of company stock valued at $3,834,345. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.1%

VRSN opened at $279.89 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $283.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $255.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.93 and a beta of 0.69.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $428.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.98% and a net margin of 49.95%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is presently 35.80%.

About VeriSign

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.