Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Makes New $12.15 Million Investment in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 48,287 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,147,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. owned 0.05% of VeriSign at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VRSN. Norges Bank bought a new stake in VeriSign in the 4th quarter valued at about $312,900,000. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP bought a new position in VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth about $149,686,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in VeriSign by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,020,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,700,000 after purchasing an additional 496,674 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its position in VeriSign by 191.6% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 626,570 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $152,225,000 after purchasing an additional 411,728 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 1,035.6% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 420,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $117,651,000 after purchasing an additional 383,771 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.35, for a total value of $146,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 34,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,100,984.85. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.54, for a total transaction of $978,582.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 409,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $121,474,349.06. This trade represents a 0.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 33,200 shares of company stock worth $9,142,891 in the last three months. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of VRSN opened at $284.24 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $273.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $263.57. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48. The stock has a market cap of $25.67 billion, a PE ratio of 30.83 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VRSN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. One research 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $328.75.

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.