Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 1,902 VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 1,902 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $479,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in VeriSign during the second quarter worth about $2,116,154,000. State Street Corp increased its position in VeriSign by 8.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,189,285,000 after buying an additional 321,737 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,020,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $976,700,000 after buying an additional 496,674 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in VeriSign by 1.4% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,818,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $699,916,000 after buying an additional 38,800 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,491,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $362,247,000 after buying an additional 246,887 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at VeriSign

In related news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.35, for a total value of $146,175.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 34,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,100,984.85. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total transaction of $916,905.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 401,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,525,933.65. This represents a 0.82% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,500 shares of company stock valued at $10,059,796. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

VeriSign Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $293.75 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $26.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.86 and a beta of 0.70. VeriSign, Inc. has a 1-year low of $208.86 and a 1-year high of $312.48. The business’s 50 day moving average is $273.35 and its 200-day moving average is $265.33.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. The business 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.21 EPS. Analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. 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 (DPR) is presently 35.14%.

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.