Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Sells 20,040 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. decreased its stake in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 60.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,215 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 20,040 shares during the period. Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $3,324,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 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 in the last quarter. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in VeriSign by 25.3% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at VeriSign

In other 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 directly owned 439,339 shares in the company, valued at $130,690,172.33. This trade represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,800 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,624. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $291.93 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $26.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.66 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $275.06 and a 200-day moving average of $266.37. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $312.48.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. VeriSign had a net margin of 49.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.20%. The business had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.21 earnings per share. VeriSign’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio is 35.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.