17,419 Shares in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Purchased by Los Angeles Capital Management LLC

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 17,419 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,104,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vestcor Inc grew its stake in shares of VeriSign by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 85,844 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,856,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth about $867,000. Prudential PLC lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 69.5% in the fourth quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 11,612 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,821,000 after buying an additional 4,762 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. purchased a new stake in VeriSign in the fourth quarter worth about $2,110,000. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in VeriSign by 60.5% in the fourth quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,182 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,502,000 after buying an additional 2,330 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.45, for a total transaction of $146,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 37,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,872,615.95. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,538,548.90. The trade was a 12.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 9,796 shares of company stock valued at $2,754,418 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” 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 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $273.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, VeriSign presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $317.67.

VeriSign Stock Down 3.9%

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $283.41 on Tuesday. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.86 and a twelve month high of $312.48. The firm has a market cap of $25.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.32 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a 50 day moving average of $280.61 and a 200 day moving average of $254.76.

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

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is presently 35.80%.

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.