VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Sells $145,390.00 in Stock

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) EVP Thomas Indelicarto sold 500 shares of VeriSign stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.78, for a total transaction of $145,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 33,395 shares in the company, valued at $9,710,598.10. This trade represents a 1.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

VeriSign Stock Up 0.6%

VRSN stock traded up $1.59 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $289.96. 766,931 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 815,794. VeriSign, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.86 and a 52 week high of $312.48. The business has a 50-day moving average of $276.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $267.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.18 billion, a PE ratio of 31.45 and a beta of 0.70.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $434.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.21 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were issued 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 yield of 1.1%. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VRSN. Wedbush upped their price target on VeriSign from $324.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $333.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VeriSign

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Corient Private Wealth LP increased its stake in VeriSign by 2,587.2% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 78,951 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,861,000 after acquiring an additional 76,013 shares during the period. Groupe la Francaise lifted its position in shares of VeriSign by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 1,481 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $373,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of VeriSign in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $67,671,000. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 30,008.2% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 34,563,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,694,816,000 after purchasing an additional 34,448,791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,021 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $546,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

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.