West Family Investments Inc. Takes Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

West Family Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,809 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $707,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSN. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in shares of VeriSign during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 429.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 788.0% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in VeriSign by 120.8% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 234 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

VeriSign Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $273.03 on Thursday. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $312.48. The company has a market cap of $24.65 billion, a PE ratio of 29.61 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $272.61 and a 200-day moving average of $264.18.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.21 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on VRSN shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on VeriSign from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup boosted their target price on VeriSign from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat, VeriSign currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total transaction of $981,651.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 439,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,690,172.33. This represents a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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. Insiders sold a total of 36,500 shares of company stock worth $10,059,796 over the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is owned by 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.