D James Bidzos Sells 3,300 Shares of VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.09, for a total value of $960,597.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 394,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,959,300.43. This trade represents a 0.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

D James Bidzos also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, August 25th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.16, for a total transaction of $960,828.00.
• On Tuesday, August 18th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.85, for a total value of $916,905.00.
• On Tuesday, August 4th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.54, for a total value of $978,582.00.
• On Tuesday, July 28th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.20, for a total transaction of $927,960.00.
• On Tuesday, July 21st, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.44, for a total transaction of $892,452.00.
• On Tuesday, July 7th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.09, for a total value of $878,097.00.
• On Tuesday, June 30th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.94, for a total value of $828,102.00.
• On Tuesday, June 23rd, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.53, for a total transaction of $820,149.00.
• On Tuesday, June 16th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.22, for a total value of $904,926.00.
• On Tuesday, June 9th, D. Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of VeriSign stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.29, for a total value of $938,157.00.

VeriSign Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $293.35 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $312.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $278.31 and a 200 day moving average of $268.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.82 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The company had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.21 EPS. VeriSign’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $333.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VeriSign

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Corient Private Wealth LP lifted its position in VeriSign by 2,587.2% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 78,951 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,861,000 after acquiring an additional 76,013 shares during the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise lifted its position in VeriSign by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 1,481 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $373,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the second quarter valued at approximately $67,671,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 30,008.2% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 34,563,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,694,816,000 after acquiring an additional 34,448,791 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital grew its position in VeriSign by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,021 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $546,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Company 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.