Korea Investment CORP Makes New Investment in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Korea Investment CORP bought a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 58,017 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,595,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter valued at about $609,000. Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign during the second quarter worth approximately $34,865,000. Robinhood Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in VeriSign during the second quarter worth approximately $9,501,000. Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the second quarter valued at approximately $944,000. Finally, OneAscent Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in VeriSign in the second quarter valued at approximately $203,000. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VRSN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $328.75.

VeriSign Stock Performance

VRSN stock opened at $281.80 on Monday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12-month low of $208.86 and a 12-month high of $312.48. The business’s 50-day moving average is $272.60 and its 200 day moving average is $264.63. The stock has a market cap of $25.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.56 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 439,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,690,172.33. This trade represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 36,500 shares of company stock valued at $10,059,796. 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.