Swedbank AB Purchases 2,273 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,199 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,273 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned 0.07% of VeriSign worth $15,840,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VRSN. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 429.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 788.0% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on VRSN shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, VeriSign presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $317.67.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN stock opened at $310.00 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $270.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $251.45. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $312.48. The company has a market capitalization of $28.21 billion, a PE ratio of 34.25 and a beta of 0.68.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.95% and a negative return on equity of 39.98%. The business had revenue of $428.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.10 earnings per share. VeriSign’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.46 EPS for the current year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 19th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 35.80%.

Insider Activity

In other VeriSign news, EVP Danny R. Mcpherson sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.02, for a total transaction of $1,355,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,195 shares in the company, valued at $9,538,548.90. This represents a 12.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 498 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.78, for a total transaction of $115,426.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 40,028 shares in the company, valued at $9,277,689.84. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 6,826 shares of company stock worth $1,821,354 over the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.